KARACHI, March 10: The orders of the Sindh ombudsman for removal of encroachments from an amenity plot in Malir are not being implemented.

The ombudsman had asked the town administration to ensure implementation of his orders by removing encroachments from the plot in Mehran Colony at Malir within 15 days, but the town nazim has failed to do so.

An area NGO approached the town police officer, capital city police officer, Sindh home department, Sindh Kachchi Abadis Authority (SKAA) and director- general of the Sindh Local Government Commission through separate communications, but none of them has ensured the removal of encroachments.

The chief executive’s secretariat, in its letter of January 22, 2003, also wrote to the Headquarters Vth Corps Karachi seeking appropriate action to resolve the issue, but it is yet to be settled.

The complainant stated before the ombudsman that officials associated with the World Bank carried out a survey of Khokhrapar area at Malir in coordination with the director-general of the SKAA. Pursuant to the recommendations of the survey team, plot Nos 27 and 28 in Mehran Colony, E-1 Area, Malir, were earmarked as amenity plots. But the land was encroached upon with the connivance of the officials concerned of the SKAA.

The complainant approached the relevant functionaries for the removal of encroachments, but his efforts bore no fruit.

After this he sought the intervention of the Ombudsman’s secretariat for the redressal of his grievance, further alleging that the land mafia was making covert efforts to alter the layout plan in the office of the SKAA.

The Ombudsman took up the matter and ordered the removal of encroachments on December 31, 2002, but the ombudsman’s order has not been carried out, claims Mohammed Umar Kehar, the General Secretary of the All-Sindh Kehar Welfare Association, which represents about 500 families of the community.