KARACHI, Feb 14: In a major anti-encroachment drive, Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town on Tuesday removed over 1,000 hutments and demolished 10 pucca houses along main University Road, in front of University of Karachi.

The houses had been there for the last six years.

A spokeswoman for the Gulshan Town said the operation was conducted on the directives of the Town Nazim, Mohammad Wasey Jalil because around 30 acres of land beneath which the KWSB’s pipelines were passing through was heavily encroached upon by huts, 10 pucca houses and a fake mineral water factory.

The factory has also been demolished and its plant has been seized, she added.

The anti-encroachment continued for five hours and at one stage when a group of people tried to resist the move, it was controlled by Gulshan’s TPO, Ather Rasheed Butt who remained present at the site along with SHOs of Aziz Bhatti Park, Bahadurabad, Mubina and Sachal police stations to ward off any unpleasant incident.

The entire anti-encroachment operation was supervised by TMO Matanat Ali Khan and officials belonging to the city government’s enforcement and the Gulshan Town’s land department took part in it.

The Town Nazim, Wasey Jalil said that the anti-encroachment drive will continue and no encroachments would be allowed on government land.

He also urged the KWSB managing director to take appropriate measures for protecting the land from encroachers, ensuring that encroachments did not reappear on the land which was retrieved on Tuesday from the clutches of land grabbers.

ROAD: Korangi Town’s Nazim, Mohammad Arif Khan, advocate, on Tuesday inspected carpeting works of Road 3000 and directed the officials concerned to ensure that all under-construction roads are completed as soon as possible without compromising on quality of work.