KARACHI, Jan 21: The city government has asked the federal government to make changes in the design of Lyari Expressway to bring uniformity in its width for smooth flow of heavy goods trucks and to save thousands of people from being displaced.

Through a resolution adopted by the city government’s Council on Monday, it drew the attention of President Pervez Musharraf to the big differences in the width of Lyari Expressway, saying it was surprising to note that its width at the starting point at Shershah was 860 feet whereas at Sohrab Goth, where the project ended, it was only 460 feet.

The Council meeting, presided over by Naib Nazim Tariq Hasan, demanded of the president to direct the authorities concerned to keep the Expressway 40 feet wide all through its length, as by doing so the government would be saving millions of rupees and thousands of homes and a school in Shershah from demolition.

The Council hoped, through the resolution, that the government would consider the request of the House keeping in view the pros and cons of the highly ambitious project.

Karachi’s biggest anti-encroachment drive was launched on Monday morning when bulldozers and other heavy machinery came into action to clear the bed of the Lyari river for the construction of an expressway linking the Karachi Port, through Mauripur Road, with Super Highway via Sohrab Goth for heavy traffic.

The Nazim Karachi, Naimatullah Khan, distributed on Monday cheques for Rs50,000 and documents of plots of 80 square yards to those affected by the Lyari Express way enlisted in a survey report.

The Nazim said compensations would be paid to the affected people the same day to avoid trouble to them, adding that survey of the Lyari river had been undertaken three times after which a list of 14,000 families living in the area had been prepared.

Speaking to the affected people, he said alternative plots being given in Baldia Town were more valuable than the ones on which they had been living and assured them of providing all basic facilities.

The go-ahead signal for the much-delayed 16.5-km long Lyari Expressway, project costing Rs5 billion, which had been conceived and designed in 1996, was given by the president after seeking opinions of experts.

The operation began at 8:30am from Mauripur Road site and till afternoon two-and-a-half km area was cleared of unauthorized structures comprising mainly illegal cattle-pens, auto workshops and commercial ventures established by brick makers.

Hundreds of residents witnessed the operation and there was no resistance. The operation was so swift that within a few hours more than a two-km area was cleared.

When this reporter visited the project site, he saw that some of the occupants were busy in shifting their kutcha structures and material to other places. However, many of them had already shifted their wooden structures and material before the arrival of anti-encroachment staff.

The operation was supervised by the deputy district officer, Salman Faridi, of the city government’s revenue department with the active cooperation of all anti-encroachment squads of the Karachi city’s Towns, including the Lyari Town.

It was fully backed by a heavy contingent of police drawn from all police stations of the city. The operation was swift and peaceful and no untoward incident occurred, said Abdul Malik Khan, deputy district officer (AE) of the city government.

The illegal occupants had been in possession of a big area of land on the river’s banks and had been doing business for years without paying any municipal or government taxes.

Despite this, the federal government directed the Sindh government for the rehabilitation of the affected people.

Local councillor Mohammed Aslam, who was present at the demolition site, said the government had taken a bold step against encroachers for clearing the banks of the river which had been converted into a narrow drain and a garbage dumping site.

He was of the view that with the construction of the Expressway, the environment of the locality would see a positive change and environmental degradation of the locality caused by pollution because of emission of smoke from garbage-burning and bone factories would stop.

He said a similar operation had been carried out in 1996 by the then administrator of the defunct KMC, but it was later on deferred because of resistance from the land mafia.

The project was revived by the present army government and its construction work handed over to the National Highway Authority (NHA).

More than 255 acres of land meant for the construction of the proposed Expressway would be retrieved and handed over to the NHA.

CRITICIZED: Various NGOs criticized the government for demolishing residential and commercial structures from Gulbai to Shershah for the construction of Lyari Expressway and for displacing people in the cold weather without serving prior notice on them.