KARACHI, Dec 31: A piece of prime government land measuring over 1000 square yards and reserved for educational purposes has been retrieved from encroachers after more than five years.
A demolition operation was carried out by the anti-encroachment cell of Lyari Town on a directive of the City Government, said a municipal official on Monday.
According to the official, all the encroachments and unauthorized structures on Survey K 20 A-35-85 near Madina Masjid Road were demolished by the Anti-Encroachment Cell under the supervision of Khalid Hashmi, a Town officer.
Giving the background of the encroached plot, the municipal official said that two private parties had claimed the entitlement of the plot and filed suits against the defunct KMC. However, these suits were dismissed by the courts.
On November 7, he said, a high court bench dismissed two suits (151\96 and 157\96) filed one of the claimants against the defunct KMC.
On a directive received from the Law Department, an operation was launched for the removal of the illegal structures with the coordination of the area police.
Area people have welcomed the move and urged the City Government to launch a similar operation for the vacation of the Punjab Press Plot.
According to them, the City Government has yet to retrieve its another piece of prime land measuring 5,000 square yards, known as Punjab Press in the official record.
They said the land worth billions of rupees was reserved for a playground
The fate of the plot has remained undecided for the last more than 10 years because of legal complications and “high connections” of the occupants, say an NGO activist of the area.
Although the defunct KMC had won twice the legal battle in the past for the vacation of the plot, each time it was restrained from taking action against the occupants.
The vast area of the precious land had been converted into godowns for cotton bales and rice. In the past, the anti- demolition squad of the defunct KMC had launched an operation to retrieve the land but the operation failed.
The City Government has yet to decide the fate of the land occupied by the powerful godown operators, who had allotted the government land on temporarily leases and after the expiry of the lease period they extended the term because of their high connections.
