QUETTA: The Balo-chistan High Court (BHC) directed the provincial government and the Quetta Metropolitan Corporation (QMC) on Saturday to remove within two days encroachments built over Habib Nullah.

Hearing a petition filed by Zahoor Ahmed against Mohammad Alam and others, a bench comprising Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mohammad Ejaz Swati asked the authorities concerned to ensure that no construction was raised over the nullah and if any illegal structure had been built it should be immediately demolished.

The court said the provincial government was the owner of the nullah and the irrigation department was required to ensure it flowed unhindered, adding that the QMC should ensure that no illegal building or structures were raised.

The court said that unfortunately both the government and the QMC had been remiss in their duty with the consequence that the general public was suffering.

The bench said that encroachments erected over the nullah prevented free flow of rainwater and sewage and those who had made the structures also threw rubbish into it but the nullah could not be cleared of it because all access points to the nullah were blocked.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2014