KARACHI, Dec 9: Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad has issued orders for strict action against elements involved in establishing encroachments and illegally occupying lands in the city.

Besides effective implementation of the existing laws, he said, laws for initiating action against officials and non-official people engaged in this business, be simplified.

He was presiding over a high-level meeting held at the Governor’s House on Tuesday in which the situation relating to kutchi abadis was reviewed.

The governor stressed on maintaining an effective check on further growth of encroachments and kutchi abadis and approved the setting up of a committee in this regard. To be headed by the additional chief secretary, Local Government, Mohammed Saleem Khan, the committee would submit its recommendations based on a line of action within a week.

Dr Ibad also directed all Town and Tehsil Nazims, TMOs and TPOs to ensure the removal of encroachments from their respective areas and that they did not re-emerge.

He called upon the relevant authorities in the city government, the Kutchi Abadis Directorate, KPT and Pakistan Railways to work in coordination for the regularization of notified kutchi abadis and to check emergence of encroachments on lands in their respective jurisdiction.

In this regard he also emphasised on the implementation of the directives of President Pervez Musharraf.

He directed that a multi-pronged strategy be chalked out for the elimination of encroachments and to control haphazard growth of ‘abadis’ besides planning low-cost housing schemes. He said lands in their jurisdiction should be kept under continuous monitoring.

The governor advised them that the departments concerned with regularization of notified kutchi abadis should work in cooperation.

Earlier, kutchi abadis director Manzar Abbas told the governor about the Directorate’s performance and the pace of progress in respect of regularization of notified kutchi abadis.

The meeting was attended by Local Government Adviser Waseem Akhtar, Chief Secretary Mutawakkil Kazi, acting Nazim Tariq Hasan, Principal Secretary Akhtar Zamin, ACS Mohammed Saleem Khan, DCO Mir Hussain Ali and senior officials of the Railways and the KPT. —APP