KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the city commissioner to remove bottlenecks in the shifting of oil tankers to the newly-built Zulfikarabad Oil Terminal from Shireen Jinnah Colony.
A two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, also directed the commissioner to consult all stakeholders in the matter and file a compliance report by Monday.
The bench was seized with the hearing of an application of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation administrator seeking the court’s direction to the Rangers and police to ensure the shifting of the oil tankers to the Zulfikarabad oil terminal, as the tanker operators resisted the move.
The KMC application was tagged with a petition filed by Shagufta Bibi, a resident of Clifton Block-1, who had in 2012 asked the then Chief Justice of Pakistan to order the shifting of the oil tankers from the neighbourhood.
The woman had initially written a letter to the then CJP, who converted it into a petition.
The petitioner complained that heavy oil tankers were parked on both sides of the main road in Clifton Block-1 and its surrounding area. Besides, she said a number of auto workshops had been opened in the locality, making the lives of area residents miserable.
She submitted that the oil tanker operators had encroached upon streets in Block-1 and its adjoining areas, causing environmental hazards and affecting residents’ privacy, as families could not move about freely due to vehicles activity. She added that oil tankers were parked in residential parts of the colony, causing hardship to the people.
The representatives of the oil tanker owners stated that no parking place was available for them at the moment and they were compelled to park their vehicles either near the seashore or in the adjacent populated areas.
During the past three years, the apex court time and again directed the authorities and the oil tanker owners and operators to remove their vehicles immediately from Shireen Jinnah Colony, a neighbourhood in Clifton, but to no avail.
On Thursday, the judges were informed that a number of oil tankers had been removed from the main street, but they were still parked on adjoining lanes. The bench ruled that the oil tankers so far removed must not be allowed to enter the locality again.
The court expressed confidence in the city commissioner and observed that he also enjoyed the confidence of all other stakeholders.
It directed the commissioner to ensure availability of all infrastructural facilities with the assistance of the provincial authorities.
In his application, the KMC administrator stated that the Zulfikarabad oil terminal was fully operational, but the oil tanker owners and operators were not ready to shift to the new terminal, spread over 150 acres.
He sought court direction to the law-enforcement agencies for assisting the city administration in shifting the oil tankers away from Shireen Jinnah Colony.
The KMC administrator also submitted a report on the matter stating that work on 32 acres had already been completed and the terminal was operational.
However, he said, the oil tanker owners, operators and the petroleum ministry had not paid their respective 10 and five per cent share of the expenditure on the construction of the oil terminal.
Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2015
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