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KARACHI, Jan 1: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has asked the law department to work out the modalities of raising an “anti-encroachment force” with the brief to protect and retrieve government lands. The proposal came under discussion at a meeting held here on Thursday.
He also ordered a crackdown on land-grabbers in Karachi and other parts of the province, asking the officials concerned to initiate legal action against them and retrieve the state-owned lands from their possession.
Presiding over the meeting attended by senior officials of the home, law and revenue departments, Mr Shah called for conducting a survey of the government lands grabbed by individuals and “land mafia” in the province.
He stressed that the Sindh Public Property (removal of encroachment) Amendment Act-2008 be enforced effectively. The act prescribes up to five year imprisonment and/or up to Rs5 million fine for an offender.
He said the government was determined to protect and retrieved each and every piece of the grabbed government land. There have been widespread reports of well-organised gangs of land-grabbers at work in many parts of Karachi. The reports suggest that the gangs operate on large scale in a mafia style and their activities have at times created a law and order situation. Last month’s ethnic violence in the city was also linked with land-grabbing. The violence left many people dead and injured.
The chief minister said that it was the collective responsibility of all the departments concerned to keep a close eye on encroachers and take necessary measures to prevent them from grabbing government land. They should take appropriate action against anyone indulging in such activity, he added.
He directed the mukhtiarkars, tapedars and other revenue officials to verify documents of land ownership in the official records and lodge FIRs against those who were found to have registered the government land in their names through bogus documents or entries.
The meeting was attended by Law Minister Ayaz Soomro, Chief Secretary Fazal-ur-Rehman, Karachi DCO Mohammad Javed Hanif and CCPO Wasim Khan, besides senior officials of the departments concerned. Sindh Minister for Irrigation Syed Murad Ali Shah, who has just relinquished the portfolio of revenue, was also present.
Load-shedding
The unabated power load-shedding in Karachi came under discussion at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah at the CM’s House on Thursday, adds PPI.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), Adviser to the CM Rashid Rabbani, Dinshaw Anklesaria, Chief Secretary Fazal-ur-Rehman and other officials were present.
The chief minister noted that people were immensely perturbed by the prolonged load-shedding.
He said the government wanted to provide relief to citizens and, therefore, KESC should increase its power generation capacity. He said power failures and load-shedding were also affecting the working of government departments.
He said the government would help the KESC resolve its problems and approach the federal government in this regard.
He told the KESC management to ensure uninterrupted power supply to pumping stations during Muharram.
KESC CEO Naveed Ismail informed the meeting that the KESC power generation would be increased by 300MW by June this year, and if full gas supply to the company was ensured, power generation capacity could be enhanced considerably.
This would ultimately help the KESC contain load-shedding to a great extent, he added.
