LARKANA: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday distributed lease documents of 150 plots among their occupants to launch the first phase of a fresh scheme under the Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority (SKAA).

The ceremony in this regard was held in Gharibabad locality of the city which was attended by MNA Khusheed Ahmed Junejo, MPA Sardar Khan Chandio, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister and SKAA chairman Liaquat Ali Askani, Jameel Ahmed Soomro and other PPP leaders and activists, besides recipients of the plot ownership documents.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Bhutto-Zardari expressed his pleasure over continuation of the katchi abadis regularisation process as per PPP’s manifesto and policy of roti, kapra aur makan envisioned by the party’s founder chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and pursued by [slain prime minister] Benazir Bhutto.

6,500 plots in 11 Larkana settlements will be regularised, says official

“We have started the lease process from Larkana and are determined to extend it to the entire Sindh; people residing in their houses within katchi abadis for the last 40 years will be given the ownership right,” he announced, and said that the provincial government and the Authority [SKAA] had been directed to accelerate the process. He hoped that the process would reach its peak next month.

“We never raised any objection while plots had been allotted to judges and bureaucrats; we hope that no one will object to the leasing of plots to the poor.

Quoting the example of Nasla Tower, he said: “It’s the difference of philosophies”.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan for getting regularised only his own house in Bani Gala. Instead, he should have adopted an across the board policy in the country, the PPP chairman said.

He deplored that there were forces that were out to snatch shelters from the poor, and said that his party braving these forces and realising its responsibility of looking after rights of the people of Larkana and the rest of the country kept pursuing its popular policies.

“It’s quite disheartening that we had to face hurdles in the regularisation of [dwellings along] Gujjar Nullah and in Orangi town whereas in the case of Bani Gala, things had a smooth sailing,” he remarked.

The PPP chairman urged people to strengthen his hands in bridging the gap between the poor and the rich, claiming that the [federal] government was paying no attention to it. Therefore, he said, the PTI government could not economically strengthen the country.

He held the federal government responsible for the ongoing economic crisis.

SKAA chairman Liaquat Askani told the audience that occupants of houses in 11 katchi abadis would be awarded lease of their respective plots.

Mohammed Saleem, the focal person for katchi abadis, said that so far 45 katchi abadis had been notified and 11 of them were in Larkana, where 6,500 plots would be available for lease.

After the ceremony, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari pro­cee­ded to Naudero where he would stay for five days. He is scheduled to inaugurate the Sindh Solid Waste Management project in the town on Wednesday (today).

‘Long march’ arrangements finalised

Arrangements for PPP’s Feb 27 ‘long march’ to Islamabad were finalised at a meeting held under the chairmanship of party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari at Naudero House on Tuesday.

The route, expected stay, halting points, venues of public meetings and those where Mr Bhutto-Zardari will address the participants, locations for reception camps and all other relevant things were finalised and tasks were assigned to the party office-bearers, lawmakers and ticket favourites of all constituencies falling within the Karachi-Islamabad route of the march, according to party sources.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari was also briefed about particip­ation from Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jummu & Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, they said.

A spokesperson for the PPP media cell said that Yousuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Sherry Rehman, Nayyar Bukhari, Farhatullah Babar, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Shazia Marri, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Saeed Ghani, Khursheed Junejo, Jamil Soomro, Aijaz Jakhrani, Changez Jamali, Aajiz Dhamrah and Chaudhri Yaseen were among those who attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2022