June 02, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 27, 1429

KARACHI, June 1: Sindh Minister for Local Government Agha Siraj Durrani has said that all those involved in the demolition of old villages in Karachi during the previous government’s tenure will be punished.

Addressing a public meeting in Gadap Town on Saturday night, he said that an inquiry had been initiated into the matter and official or other person found involved in razing the old villages would punished in accordance with the law.

He said that the old villages in Karachi were a priority of the government and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) believed that these settlements had been neglected and their inhabitants victimised by the successive governments.

The minister was accompanied by Ijaz Durrani, Haji Munawwar Abbasi, Akram Baloch, Jameel Arab and others.

Mr Durrani reaffirmed the PPP resolve to fulfill all the commitments the party had made with the masses, and said that the government would ensure all basic amenities, including drinking water and power, as well as employment, for the inhabitants of old villages.

He warned officials of his department against doing any injustice to the poor and downtrodden, saying that these were the people for whom Benazir Bhutto had even laid down her life.

The minister said that the areas which were denied sufficient development funds by the previous government would now get adequate funds on a priority basis.

He was of the view that the local government system failed to deliver because the development funds were not distributed judiciously. As a result, he said, there was an increasing sense of deprivation among the population of the neglected areas.

On complaints against the attitude of the Malir Development Authority towards the inhabitants of the old villages in Malir, the minister declared that no one would be allowed to demolish old villages or change their demarcation.

Regarding the blocked grants of Rs9.6 million allocated to various union councils, the minister said that an inquiry would be held into the matter. He said allotment of 200 acres from the Gutter Baghicha land would also be reviewed.—Agencies