KARACHI, June 11: The Defence Housing Authority (DHA) is desperately seeking a solution to a couple of major problems that have been haunting the planned balloting and allotment of land in its DHA-II project near Super Highway.
The land, measuring over 12,700 acres, was acquired by the DHA for what it describes as “the biggest and most ambitious project it has ever offered” to the armed forces personnel.
However, the Authority has failed to gain full control of the land from the locals, who own some pieces of land scattered over the proposed DHA-II site, even 19 years after getting much of the property allotted from the Sindh government almost free.
The DHA has planned commencement of the balloting and allotment process in 2009 but this will only be possible after settlement of the cases of ownership of private and leased lands. Last year, after a joint survey and demarcation by the Board of Revenue and the DHA, it was found that some 250 claimants were genuine with legal stay orders. The cases have been in courts since 1992. The other major problem, according to the DHA, appeared to be certain feudal lords’ act of demanding a huge price for lands they had purchased from the poor locals.
The claimants are very poor people, many of whom have at times of crisis sold their land to feudal lords or area councillors in return for small amounts of money.
According to Major Moeenuddin, DHA’s Deputy Director, Land, “We are trying to educate these people about their rights and how they will benefit after the DHA starts developing the place.
They will have health and education facilities, not to mention means of livelihood, available to them. The problem is the waderas who are now demanding huge amounts of money from the DHA in return for the lands they acquired from the poor locals. It is the DHA name that is giving these people ideas. If we pull out today, the land will be worthless.”
“We cannot go ahead with planning and we cannot commit to anything till we have free land,” says DHA Administrator Brig Kamran Aziz Qazi.
But Nazar Muhammad Leghari, Special Secretary of the Sindh Board of Revenue’s Land Utilization department, says: “The land was allotted to the DHA at Rs100,000 per acre, which is as good as free. Now it is for the DHA to pursue the problems of ownership of the bits of land there owned by the area locals."
When Dawn approached Brig Maqsood Hussain, former administrator of the DHA, regarding the matter, he was of the opinion that the DHA should refrain from buying land from the locals. Citing the example of the DHA Lahore, he recalled: “There we got land from individuals by leaving them with two canals for every acre they owned. It could be done that way in Karachi too as buying involves too much scandal, kickbacks, etc.”
Before Brig Maqsood retired from his position in September 2006, the DHA had already paid the Sindh Board of Revenue Rs1.2 million, which is one fourth of the entire cost, excluding that of the land of the claimants which the DHA will not pay for. He sees no reason for work not to proceed in this matter.
It was in 1988 that the DHA approached the Sindh government for purchasing more land in Karachi. The 2,303-37 acres in Deh Abdar and 10,409-26 acres in Deh Khadeji offered to it by the Sindh government is barren wasteland going right up to Dadu, according to Muhammad Shahbaz Ali, DHA’s Additional Director, Land. Though far away from the present DHA, the project will be a satellite town with amenities within itself, he said.
According to Lt-Col Syed Rafat Hussain Naqvi, DHA’s public relations officer, DHA II, which is also being called DHA Phase IX by many, is much bigger than the combined phases I to VIII of the DHA that add up to around 8,000 acres. It will be better planned too, he claims.
“What happened in phases I to VIII is that they were developed in a haphazard manner. We started with some 76.2 acres initially from phase-I and later kept adding to it as the need arose. We even reclaimed land from the sea when there was no more land left.”
