LARKANA, March 29: The Larkana circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Thursday asked the district police officer to assist taluka nazim and taluka administration in clearing the city of encroachments and controlling law and order.

The division bench comprising Justice Munib Ahmed Khan and Justice Nadeem Azhar Siddqui disposed of petition filed by a lawyer and observed that the petitioner might approach taluka nazim and municipal administration and point out to them the unauthorised occupation of public streets.

The bench asked the district police officer to extend assistance to the taluka nazim and administration to clear encroachments, said the petitioner Anwar Channa.

The Larkana Taluka Nazim Qurban Abbasi stated before the bench that he had taken action and removed several encroachments but they cropped up again and sometimes led to law and order situation. Besides, police were not assisting him, he complained. The petitioner pleaded his case along with a senior lawyer Illahi Bakhsh Kehar and submitted to court details of encroachments on public property in the city.

The petition said that under the new setup of district government the authorities concerned seemed to have given a free hand to the members of land mafia to grab public property.

People had built toilets, motor garages and ladders on streets causing great inconvenience to people, he said. An abandoned ‘chungi’ on the Station Road was converted overnight into a restaurant, he said giving examples of encroachments.Similarly, a vacant amenity plot measuring about 2000 square feet located in the heart of the city (Pakistan Chowk) was occupied with active assistance of the officials of Market police station, he charged.

He said that land mafia had trespassed historical places, lawns, parks, gardens, rehabilitation centres and orphan centres not only in Larkana but in entire Sindh.