KARACHI: Growth of unauthorized settlements rampant
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 22: At a time when lease-grant process vis-a-vis 278 kutchi abadis across the city is in full swing, new squatter settlements continue to emerge unabated while the existing kutchi abadis are expanding unchecked on the periphery of the metropolis, especially in Baldia and Orangi areas.
The city government has set up camps in different parts of the city to hand over lease documents to the inhabitants of recognized 278 kutchi aba-dis which exist since March 1985.
According to official sources, more than 200 squatter settlements have already emerged after 1985 with an organized mafia of land grabbers playing a key role in encroaching upon the state land.
The modus operandi is to occupy the state land - open plots, dangerous areas, amenity plots, etc., - to accommodate professional families that would raise kutcha houses to give the land a shape of a kutchi abadi.
The mafia, the sources pointed out, not only grabbed precious state land in an organized manner, but also caused heavy losses in revenues to the exchequer as the families brought in by it utilized all available basic amenities - water, power, parking lots, footpaths, parks, playgrounds, etc., - without paying any charges or taxes.
Some of the unauthorized settlements may be seen in the areas near the Malir section of the Northern Bypass at Tapo Bijar Bhatti (in the jurisdiction of the Malir Development Authority), Gadap and Baldia townships.
An action to check the emergence of such settlements is avoided mainly due to the lack of political will and commitment at top level to enforce the writ of law and curb corruption among low-grade officials, the sources said.
The sources regretted that in the presence of an operational committee in each town for the purpose, no action was being taken against the land grabbers. The committee had been constituted about five months back following a presentation made before Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad to identify the elements indulged in land grabbing, encroachment and other such practices and to take legal action against them.
The sources also pointed out that the land-owning agencies had been asked to prepare a complete portfolio of their lands falling in the jurisdiction of the city government within three months.
They were supposed to specify location of any encroachments (including pre- and post-1985 kutchi abadis). However, the task has not yet been accomplished, according to the sources.
The sources emphasized the need for preparing a digital map of Karachi to evolve a geographical information system (GIS) so that planning and monitoring in this regard could be facilitated.
There is a dire need of shifting the Anaj Mandi (food grain market), as well as timber and iron markets, to places close to the passage of the Northern Bypass in view of rapid development in the metropolis, they stressed.
