HYDERABAD: The Sindh high court on Thursday once again issued notices to the provincial government and Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) to explain several years-long delays in the completion of the Gulistan-e-Sarmast Housing scheme. The respondents have been directed to submit a reply on February 16. Advocate Dilawar Qureshi, lawyer of the petitioner Farhan Abbassi, Arsalan Abbassi and Noman Abbassi apprised the court that the scheme, mainly consisting of 33,500 low-cost plots, had not been complete despite the passage of over 12 years. He briefed that a large number of allottees had made complete payments but they had not been given the possessions of their plots. He claimed that the scheme still lacked proper basic facilities like water, gas, and electricity. The scheme was launched in 2009 on 2,000 acres of land in the Kohsar area of Latifabad. The petitioner Farhan Abbassi has urged the court to order the respondents to complete the project without further delay and to provide possession of plots to the allottees. He also prayed that the HDA should be barred from spending the funds collected from the allottees of Sarmast on any other project or over regular expenses of the authority.