RANGERS deserve appreciation for undertaking most difficult task of removing barriers fixed throughout the city for security reasons over the years. These barriers posed great inconvenience to the people while moving in or out living in the surroundings.

This is a gigantic task and with the speed the Rangers are removing these barriers soon Karachi will be free from barriers.

No one has the right to occupy government land, roads, raise construction under the cover of security. If someone feels insecure he better arrange private security guards. This is going to be a test case for Rangers.

But there is another big nuisance than the barriers. Car showroom owners have not only occupied footpaths but also parked their cars on main roads in two lanes causing traffic jam and creating great inconvenience to pedestrians.

This has spread like an epidemic in the entire city without any fear of law and accountability.

According to building laws, the leased portion of shop or house ends at the boundary wall rest of the land belongs to the government.

There is definite need for the Rangers to clear the footpaths and roads and bring an end to this hooliganism.

This is more important than barriers as large population that moves without transport put their life in danger while using roads as footpaths are loaded with cars and miscellaneous goods.

There should be no compromise on this issue and action must be taken above board. After having removed the barriers and cleared the footpaths their emergence after few weeks must be dealt severely.

This will also help law enforcement agencies in chasing the militants and culprits freely unhindered.

Mukhtar Ahmed

Karachi

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RANGERS have recently asked people of Karachi to remove barriers from streets. While this step by Rangers is laudable, there is yet another nuisance which needs to be eliminated by the paramilitary outfit — harassment to the residents of flats in Karachi by some elements.

Most of the residents of the apartments in Karachi are facing this issue. But the problem is worse in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, a stronghold of the MQM.

The apartment dwellers face harassment by rogue elements who live among them. These goons are mostly members of self-formed ‘unions’ of the apartments and involved in minting money on one pretext or the other which tantamount to extortion.

To make things worse, there are even parallel unions and even ‘committees’ to harass residents.

If any resident dares to resist and refuses to contribute financially to the ‘projects’ of these unions and committees, he is harassed and given veiled threats.

Recently, some residential apartments in Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s block 13-A raised walls of their premises.

This has been done by the so-called unions and ‘committees’ of these apartments, citing security reasons. For this, thousands of rupees were demanded by these miscreants without presenting expenditures of these projects.

To add insult to injury, among those demanding money are individuals who have not been even contributing a single paisa towards monthly maintenance of the apartments.

Raising the wall serves no purpose as it is observed criminals penetrate security through main gates and not by trespassing over the walls.

The question is: who gave the authority to these ‘committees’ to demand money for any project and harass residents who do not wish to contribute? Is it legal to raise walls of a residential project without the approval of Sindh Building Control Authority?

May I expect Rangers to demolish these thuggish committees involved in extortion?

M. Raj

Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2015

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