KARACHI, Sept 4: The city government has failed to remove encroachments on a piece of land meant for construction of the City Park at Sohrab Goth.

Huts have been established on most of the encroached land by Afghans and the removal of encroachments now seems difficult, according to an official.

The city government was allotted 20 acres at Sohrab Goth, but 8 acres has been encroached upon and the remaining 12 acres is lying vacant and may also be usurped by the land mafia.

The city government plans to construct the park on the site and it says that the land would be retrieved at all costs. However, till today now no concrete steps have been taken.

The transport and communications department of the city government had proposed to the City Nazim to hand over the land to private bus companies to construct bus terminals at the site, but this request was rejected by high-ups of the city government and the matter is still lingering.

The land mafia is so powerful that when the staff of the city government went to the site to make a design for the city park, they were threatened of dire consequences by the land mafia, according to the officials who added that the city government’s helplessness is evident from the fact that no action had, so far, been taken against these elements.

In a meeting held last month, attended by the DCO and the EDO transport, it was decided that the remaining land would be saved after carrying out its demarcation, but no demarcation has been carried out so for.

On the other hand, the city government’s refusal to hand over this place for the purpose of a bus terminal was not only affecting the Urban Transport Service, but also depriving the city government of revenue which could be generated by charging the bus private companies who could allowed the facility of parking for their buses.

A private bus company had even offered to construct boundary wall around the remaining land if the city government allows it to have some portion of the land to run buses under the Urban Transport Scheme, but this offer was flatly rejected by the city authorities.

When asked why this proposal was rejected by higher authorities, an official said that the proposal was rejected on an argument that this place would be utilized for the parking of inter-city buses.—PPI