October 25, 2008	Saturday	Shawwal 25, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 24: Sindh Katchi Abadis Minister Rafiq Engineer said on Friday that a park would be developed at the Gutter Baghicha and nobody would be allowed to misuse the amenity plot.

Speaking at a meeting on “Save Gutter Baghicha Park” organised by the Shehri and the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung Fur Die Freiheit, the minister said that under the rules an amenity land cannot be used for any other — residential, commercial, industrial, etc — purpose.

He said the Sindh government had given plots to different organisations for specific uses and if anyone did not require the land for that specific purpose or tried to misuse it to make a quick buck, the Sindh government could always take its land back.

The minister said the Sindh government would take up the issue of the Gutter Baghicha with the city government to protect the only surviving open space with greenery in one of the oldest areas of the city.

He also regretted that many other organisations like the Railways and KPT had also started to misuse the land granted to them for specific purposes and said the issue would also be taken up with these organisations soon.

Earlier, Roland deSouza of Shehri traced the history of the Gutter Baghicha. He said it was established some 110 years ago by the KMC and was spread over 1,017 acres of land.

Over the years more than 530 acres had either been encroached on or attempts were being made to do so by katchi abadis of Asif Colony, Hasrat Mohani Colony, Zubair Colony, Safia Begum, Ismailia Garden Cooperative Society, petrol pump, Rexer Village, Brohi graveyard, Ali Mohammad Village, KMC Staff quarters, graveyard, United Colony, KMC fabrication plant, KMC asphalt plant, ZMC workshop, pumping station, Haroonabad Industrial Area, water hydrants, KMC Officers’ Cooperative Housing Society, etc.

He said that despite the fact that former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf and many other leaders had said that the Gutter Baghicha would be protected, land grabbers were so powerful that land had not been recovered.

He said that irony was that in a case filed by the Shehri in the Sindh High Court the City District Government Karachi’s EDO legal Manzoor Ahmad, who was a member of the KMC officers’ society and a beneficiary if the land was given to it, was presenting the CDGK’s side.

Barrister Naim-ur-Rehman who is representing the Shehri in the Sindh High Court to save the Gutter Baghicha said that the court had granted a stay order on the issue and the land for the time being was protected. But the struggle to have it protected permanently would be hard and long, he stressed.

Referring to a campaign launched to collect 100,000 signatures by the Shehri to protect the Gutter Baghicha, he said the campaign was okay, but if 100,000 people turned up outside the Civic Centre that houses the City Nazim Mustafa Kamal’s office to stage a demonstration, then it would be more effective.

The Opposition Leader in the City Council, Saeed Ghani, said that he had raised the issue in a council meeting but a debate was not allowed.

In the next meeting councillors, including female members, were beaten up. He said that the issue would be raised in the council once again and nobody would be allowed to rob the city of its ‘only surviving lungs’ located in the densely populated area inhabited by the low-income groups of people.

Earlier, Amber Alibhai and others also spoke at the meeting where tributes were also paid to the area residents who continued their struggle and staged demonstrations against the encroachments for the past many years.

CDGK’s EDO of parks Liaquat Ali Khan could not come, as according to the organisers, he had to rush to attend a family funeral in Hyderabad.

A 15-minute documentary on the Gutter Baghicha was also screened.