HYDERABAD, June 6: Thirty private housing schemes launched in Tando Allahyar district have been declared illegal by the Sindh directorate of town planning for lacking approval from the organisation. The total number of such illegal private housing schemes has increased to 174 in five districts of Sindh till date.

Director, town planning, Tahir Ahmed, said in a statement on Wednesday that notices had been issued to the sponsors of the housing schemes to close their booking offices and stopping advertisements of the same.

He said that the DCO of Tando Allahyar had been requested to seal the booking offices of the housing schemes and DPO to lodge FIRs against their builders/sponsors for swindling the people. Mr Ahmed advised the people not to book any plots in the housing schemes.

The Tando Allahyar housing schemes include Khanzada Colony, Abdullah Town, Amar Housing Scheme, Sachal Sain Colony, Gulshan-i-Wahid, Naseeba Colony, Bheel Colony, Mujahid Colony, Gulshan-i-Hameed, Gulshan-i-Sakhi, Soomro Colony, Mansoor Colony, Dada Sain Colony, Almas Town, Ashfaq Town, Memon Housing Society, Usmanabad, Muree Colony, Gulshan-i-Saleem Colony, Naseem Nagar, Shah Latif Colony, Akram Colony, Gulshan-i-Rehman, Watayo Faqir Colony, Gulshan-i-Waheed, Kashmir Colony, Gulshan-i-Hakeem, Data Colony and Gulshan-i-Mehran.

The director said that section-8 of the Town Planning Act clearly stipulated that any scheme which was not approved by the government of Sindh was illegal and liable for legal action.

Earlier, the directorate has declared 144 private housing schemes in four districts of Sindh illegal, including 25 in Mirpurkhas district, 12 in Nawabshah district, 14 in Ghotki district and 93 in Sanghar district.