The Sindh government on Saturday announced to ‘wholeheartedly’ implement the Supreme Court‘s orders regarding demolition of illegal buildings, removal of encroachments and completion of planned development work in Karachi.
“The orders issued by the chief justice and the directions of the Supreme Court will be implemented wholeheartedly,” Minister for Information Nasir Hussain Shah said while talking to reporters in Karachi.
The Supreme Court had on Friday directed the government to take action against unauthorised constructions and encroachments in Karachi’s PNT Colony, Delhi Colony and Punjab Colony and asked the Sindh government to carry out planned development work at Nehr-i-Khayyam in Clifton. A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed had issued the orders while hearing a case against encroachments in the provincial metropolis.
The minister said the provincial government fully backs the vision of the chief justice to transform Karachi for better. “We also have sympathies for the people residing in the buildings [built illegally]. That is why we need time. There is already a top court order regarding the protection of people residing in illegally constructed buildings,” he said. “We will first target illegal buildings that are non-residential. The Supreme Court order on encroachments will make things easier for the government. Previously, stay orders given by courts had sometimes acted as an obstacle to our work,” he further said.
Shah said in the first phase, buildings and structures without any occupants will be razed. For buildings where people are currently living, the government as a matter of human sympathy will provide the residents with alternative housing as part of a resettlement programme, he said. “This is the only issue [of arranging alternative housing] that we are encountering. Action will be taken on all of the rest of the SC’s orders forthwith,” he added.
Shah maintained that the operation against encroachments in the port city is continuing, and that the Sindh Building Control Authority has set up a special cell for complaints related to the matter.
The minister said a number of remarks given by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed regarding the state of affairs in the province are quite helpful for the provincial government. He said the Sindh government had wanted to carry out development work at Nehr-i-Khayyam and make changes to Submarine Chowrangi underpass but some people had approached courts and obtained stay orders against the projects. “Following the orders issued by the CJP, the stay orders granted by lower courts will stand null and void, which will support the provincial government’s plans,” he said.
Noting that a large number of people are usually involved in illegal constructions, the minister said a vigilance committee of the government has removed 900 illegal structures in the city. He acknowledged, however, that because Karachi is such a large city, unauthorised construction still continues in many areas. “Action was taken against people involved in such [constructions] in the past and will be taken in the future as well,” he said.
Shah said the Sindh government has regularised many goths and villages where people have historically been living. “We never want to render anyone homeless but we also cannot allow anyone to occupy someone else’s property,” he added.
Responding to a question about the CJP’s direction to restore the past glory of Karachi, Shah said while he cannot comment on the top judge’s remark. “Clearly, if you go back many years, the population of this city was much lower and there is a big difference between the conditions of that time and the present,” he said, and expressed the hope that the CJP will also take action against ‘illegal immigrants’ and other people from abroad living illegally in the city.
Besides briefing reporters on the progress of the anti-encroachment drive, the Sindh information minister also answered questions about other issues related to governance in the province, including corruption and development in Karachi. “A one-window operation has been started for complaints related to corruption. We have received less development funds too for uplift projects. A drive against temporary settlements has been started in Karachi too, and a plan in this regard is in place,” he said.
Shah in his media talk also said that an effort is being made for a long time to ‘destabilise’ the Sindh government. He claimed that last year, the Centre did not release funds worth billions of rupees from Sindh’s due share while during the ongoing year, the province has not been provided Rs 130-135 billion that it was due to receive. “This would of course have consequences for development but despite this, if you see any [development] projects being carried out anywhere in Pakistan, they are in Sindh,” he claimed, adding that Sindh government is making efforts to complete all 131 of its ongoing development schemes by June 2020.