KARACHI, Aug 18: Thousands of allottees of the Malir Development Authority’s (MDA) New Malir Housing Society are running from pillar to post to get their deposits back.

Faqir Faiz Mohammad Hesbani, social worker and member Sindh Council of Pakistan People’s Party, said here on Sunday that the MDA had been deferring the refund since long on one pretext or the other and now the allottees were being told that the MDA was faced with administrative and financial problems as the project had been taken over by the city government.

“People go to the MDA office on due dates, but find on the notice board a new date or learn a new story adding to their depression”, Faiz Hesbani said.

The housing project launched in 1995 was based on 32,800 plots near the link road connecting the National Highway and the Super Highway.

Faiz said the miseries of the allottees started in 1998 when a dispute surfaced between the MDA and another government agency with counter claim over the land. The allottees had deposited a huge amount of more than one and a half billion rupees by the time they learnt about the dubious legal position of the MDA project.

The frustrated allottees moved the Sindh ombudsman’s office which in 2000 ordered the refund and declared the scheme void. The MDA and the publicity company MAXIM challenged the ombudsman’s order in the Sindh High Court. The superior court, by the end of 2000, in its verdict validated the scheme. However, the option of refund was left open to the allottees who were reluctant to stay with the project.

The PPP leader pointed out that the MDA had recently involved estate agencies in the refund process and alleged that MDA officers had their own interests in the game.

“For the last three weeks these estate agencies have been very active in trapping the MDA allottees with the promise of immediate re-payment.”

Faiz Hesbani demanded that not only the principal amounts but due compensation be immediately made to those affected by the delay in refund.—APP