KARACHI, Jan 26: Some unscrupulous people, allegedly in connivance with land officials of the city government, have occupied a portion of residential quarters adjacent to the former sub-registrar office near Lea Market.
The historic structure had been saved from being auctioned a few months ago by timely action of the Lyari Town administration, which forced the city government to reverse its decision.
The decision to auction the site, till now housing a sub- registrar office and residential quarters, had stirred a great resentment among the people.
It is learnt that an attempt had been made recently by some land-grabbers to occupy part of the residential quarters but it was foiled by the timely action of the land department officials.
It appears, however, that the land mafia, which had been eying on the precious land, did not give up its designs and finally reoccupied it.
The administration of the Lyari Town took a serious note of the situation and accused the land officials of the city government of encouraging “illegal activities”.
It urged the City Nazim to get the land vacated and take steps for protection of public property.
The historic building was constructed in 1912 and before the establishment of the sub-registrar office, it housed municipal vaccination centre. It also remained in the use of sanitation section of the health department.
A controversy started between the city government and the Lyari Town over the ownership of the property following the implementation of the devolution of power plan as the sub- registrar was moved to some other place and the vacated structure was abandoned for all purposes.
When the city government proposed to auction the site, the representatives of various NGOs and the administration of Lyari Town opposed the decision.
