HYDERABAD: A re-measurement of land is likely to be undertaken next week to determine area limit of the Special Prison Nara after the jail authorities were stopped from encroaching upon the adjoining road within the SITE industrial area.
The re-measurement is to be carried out by Sindh government’s settlement & survey department.
An initial inspection by the Latifabad mukhtiarkar found that the jail authorities were encroaching upon the road by not only raising the prison’s outer wall but also its installing its gate.
The construction of the wall has remained suspended until the prison’s limits are determined. According to Latifabad revenue sources, the mukhtiarkar inspected the construction site and conveyed to the jail authorities on Friday that the outer gate was built on additional land beyond the prion’s outer limits.
Nara prison’s superintendent Faheem Anwar Memon told Dawn over phone that he had requested the Hyderabad deputy commissioner to ensure immediate demarcation of its limits through the settlement & survey department, as far as construction of the boundary wall was concerned, considering security of the prison.
He said that factory owners in SITE had themselves made encroachment in this area which “warrants action”. He stated that outer wall was being raised at its previous location. He disputed findings of the mukhtiarkar regarding jail gate’s location beyond prison’s limits, saying he was backing SITE’s claim.
He wondered why didn’t SITE object initially when such work was planned by the prison administration.
The incharge estate engineer of SITE, Aijaz Umrani. said that when jail officials started digging the road, SITE’s private security personnel had objected to it.
“When jail officials didn’t stop, I wrote a letter,” he said. He added that some plot owners in the area were restrained by the prison administration from raising walls on their plots despite fact that structures had been built along the same strip of land. “We now again agree to a joint re-demarcation of the limits of SITE’s and jail’s lands,” he said.
On the other hand, IG Prisons Sindh Fida Hussain Mastoi has approached the Hyderabad Commissioner through a letter to seek his intervention to ensure construction of remaining portion of security wall / external perimeter wall of the prison.
The IG Prisons has referred to DC’s orders for stoppage of wall’s construction, and said that in view of prison chief’s representation, immediate action against encroachers and land grabbers’ obstruction work was sought. He said that adequate security arrangements through DC and SSP Hyderabad during construction should be ensured.
He said that the prison houses 515 prisoners, and a recent jailbreak at Malir prison occurred due to a breach of a wall.
The prison chief in his letter addressed to DC said that Malir jailbreak occurred recently and such incidents demands necessary completion of wall of prison without delay. He urged the DC to allow construction of wall on a priority basis.
Hyderabad DC Zain Ul Abiden Memon, however, in his correspondence also requested the prison chief to stop construction of work considering pending demarcation and measurement exercise which was essential to ensure accurate determination of jail’s boundaries and to prevent any potential dispute or encroachment with SITE Hyderabad and irrigation authorities.
Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2025
