KARACHI: Rangers, police told to vacate bus depots: Shifting of inter-city termini
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 23: The Sindh High Court directed the Pakistan Rangers and the Sindh Police on Thursday to vacate the defunct Karachi Road Transport Corporation bus depots at Malir, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, SITE and Korangi to enable the City District Government Karachi to set up temporary inter-city and inter-provincial bus termini.
These termini will cater to vehicles plying on National and Super highways pending construction of permanent stands.
The police were also asked to ensure that no Balochistan-bound bus leaves the city or enters from anywhere except from the newly-established bus terminal at Baldia Town.
The Quetta-bound bus stands operated by transporters at Lyari, Saddar, Gulshan and other places in the city should be closed for good. The KRTC bus depots, to be vacated by the police and the rangers, would temporarily house termini for vehicles going to and coming from the interior of the province and upcountry.
The directions were issued by a division bench comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Sajjad Ali Shah on a petition agitating traffic hazards, pollution and other problems created by the inter-city traffic and bus termini.
The inter-city termini in Lyari, Saddar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal and other places would first to be shifted to the vacated bus depots and ultimately to the new stands being constructed by the city district government on the National and Super highways. The Rangers and police chiefs were asked to submit a report on the measures taken by them to comply with the directions by December 7, the next date of hearing.
The CDGK counsel, Manzoor Ahmed, earlier informed the bench that the Baldia Town terminal for Balochistan-bound buses was fully operational but transporters were still plying their vehicles from different localities in the city.
BUILDER PRODUCED: The builder of Sharjah Centre, Artillery Maidan, was produced before the bench, which told him that he would have to compensate the purchasers of the four flats built unlawfully on the first floor of the complex meant for car parking. The builder, who was not appearing in proceedings on a petition by a flat owner of the complex against the absence of a parking lot, was produced by the TPO Saddar.
Builder Mohammad Akram, however, said though a parking lot was provided in the building plan submitted by him to the Karachi Building Control Authority, its construction was not architecturally possible. KBCA counsel Shahid Jamil Khan argued that he should have not included the parking lot in his design if its construction was not possible or should have informed the KBCA subsequently instead of proceeding with the illegal construction and sale of flats.
The authority sanctioned the plan in good faith and after considering the structural aspects involved. The builder, the counsel said, was taking the belated plea only to evade his liability for illegal construction and payment of compensation to the purchasers, whose flats would have to be demolished to build a parking lot.
The counsel suggested that M/s Nespak be appointed to carry out feasibility of a parking lot at Sharjah Centre. The bench accepted the plea and asked Nespak to submit its report within 30 days.
