KARACHI, Nov 21: The Pakistan Navy on Tuesday stopped officials of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board from taking action against unauthorised occupation of land of the High Service Reservoir, saying the issue of possession of this piece of land had not been resolved between the two organisations.
Sources said a KWSB officials team had gone to the HSR area off Karsaz Road to remove encroachment from government land but when they reached there they found that the whole area was surrounded by dozens of navy officials.
The KWSB team was in the process of negotiation with PN officials when armed guards started threatening them of dire consequences and ordered them to leave the premises, which is in the PN’s possession. There was a clash like situation but the KWSB officials in a attempt to avoid any untoward situation left the premises, the sources added.
Keeping in view the future requirement of water in the metropolis, the KWSB planned to reactivate the High Service Reservoir, which was built before partition and recently a meeting was held between officials of the PN and the KWSB in order to settle the issue of possession of 9.28 acres for the HSR’s reactivation.
The sources said that during the meeting the PN realised the necessity of water reservoir for the metropolis and showed readiness to hand over the area of 9.28 acres out of its possession if the KWSB provided the price of land of equal amount elsewhere in the city.
The proposal was rejected by KWSB Managing Director Brigadier Iftikhar Haider and instead he expressed willingness for payment of land in instalments.
During the meeting, the sources said, the KWSB MD expressed reservation on encroachments in the general area of the HSR. However, the PN officials assured him that no activity whatsoever had been planned or being undertaken on the land measuring 9.28 acres reserved for the reactivation of HSR.
The sources said that despite the meeting, the issue was still unresolved between the two organisations and Tuesday’s incident proved that the PN was unwilling to hand over the land to the KWSB.
The sources said that the dispute between the two parties was on the rate of compensation and not on the ownership. The PN captured the constructed reservoir and deployed soldiers and ringed it with barbed wire. The sources said that the city government and the KWSB would protest against Tuesday’s incident and raise the issue of HSR land at the highest level in a day or two.
