KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday came down hard on the district administration, police and Railways authorities for allegedly conniving with those occupying their land and raising illegal structures along the route of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR).

He declared that those found ‘hand in glove’ with the encroachment mafia would be held accountable.

While presiding over a meeting for the removal of encroachments from the KCR route to launch the project in September, the chief minister said the people settled on the government land before 2013 would be given compensation, while no compensation would be paid for the encroachments that appeared during or after 2013.

CM wants govt land vacated, fenced to launch KCR project in September

Mr Shah asked the provincial transport minister to issue a deadline to those illegally occupying government land to vacate the area voluntarily. After the expiry of the notice period, the operation to demolish the illegal structures should be conducted with the help of district police, Railways police, anti-encroachment force, civic utility agencies, other authorities such as KPT, NHA and LDA, the transport minister was told.

The chief minister said the areas cleared during the anti-encroachment operation must be fenced immediately afterward to prevent re-emergence of encroachments and protect the KCR route.

“I am going to perform the ground-breaking of KCR in September or October and high officials of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will be invited to the ceremony,” he declared.

Referring to a survey conducted by Pakistan Railways, Karachi Commissioner Aijaz Ali Khan said that 4,950 houses and shops had been illegally built on the KCR route. In Karachi South district, he said, there were 420 houses including four katcha and 416 concrete structures. But, he added, the railways had not surveyed some parts of the district where 300 more structures had appeared.

According to the survey, he said, there were 2,517 illegal structures in Karachi East district. In Karachi Central, he said, there were 720 illegal establishments. In Karachi West, he said, the survey identified 1,002 illegal structures.

Another survey conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency in 2013 showed that there were about 4,600 houses and shops on the KCR route. This could be taken as a policy decision to pay compensation purely on humanitarian grounds to the owners of houses or shops constructed till 2013 as mapped by JICA, while the encroachments that appeared afterwards would be razed after being served with notices, the chief minister said.

Among others, the meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary (Development) M. Waseem, Additional IG Karachi Mushtaq Mahar, Transport Secretary Taha Farooqi, deputy superintendent of Pakistan Railways and all deputy commissioners.

Anti-corruption law proposed

While presiding over another meeting, which was attended by Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) chairman and other officers, the chief minister said the provincial government had decided to introduce proposed ‘Sindh Anti-Corruption Agency Act’ and Rules.

The chief minister said: “NAB [National Accountability Bureau] was encroaching upon the powers of Anti-Corruption Establishment of the provincial government. Under the 18th Amendment, only the provincial government is competent enough to exercise anti-corruption powers.”

The salient features of the proposed act included recovery of illegal gains through court; imposition of fine not less than illegal gains derived. On conviction, accused shall stand disqualified from being elected as member of parliament/provincial assembly etc and shall not be eligible to hold any public office for a period of 10 years. The proposed rules will be sent to the law department for vetting.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2017