KARACHI, March 15: Police lobbed teargas shells on residents protesting against the demolition of some floors of their apartment building in Bahadurabad on court orders. Three women fell unconscious and were taken to private hospital.

The police took an action when protesters took to streets and lit bonfires and the police used teargas to disperse the crowd.

The apartment building, having over 45 housing units, is situated on plot No 65/15, Block 3, Behar Muslim Cooperative Housing Society, near Bahadurabad.

KBCA officials said although the builder got the building plans approved up to ground-plus-two floors, he raised up to five floors and illegally constructed 10 shops on the space reserved for parking.

The protesters were criticising the KBCA for not regularising their apartment although they had applied for regularisation much before the government allowed amnesty to illegal buildings.

An old woman said why are the residents being punished and why didn’t the KBCA take action in the initial stages of construction against the builder,” she lamented.

Gulshan Town’s Building Controller Ayaz Khan, who led the demolition team to the site, said the action was being taken in compliance of a court order given in suit No CP-1513/94.

He said that the demolition squad could not accomplish its task as by the time shutters of only two shops were pulled down, a large number of people, including those residing in the building took to streets, besides, there was a shortage of policemen.

He said that under the court’s order’s three illegally constructed floors and 10 shops are to be demolished.

Asked whether the occupants of the affected floors were told to vacate their apartments prior to taking such an action, he replied in the affirmative, saying as far as KBCA is concerned it had already issued notices to them for vacating their apartments, but other organisations such as KESC, PTCL, KWSB, SSGC, which were also asked by the court to disconnect the connections of utilities have not yet done so.