KARACHI, Aug 29: Inaction on the part of police authorities in removing encroachments across the site of the Preedy Street Extension project has been causing an inordinate delay in the completion of the road project.

Under the plan Saddar area is to be linked with Shahrah-i-Quaideen. The foundation stone of the project was laid by President Musharraf on Aug 18, 2001 and the idea was to streamline the flow of vehicular traffic by diverting it from the narrow and often congested Preedy Street to Shahrah-Quaideen.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, taking notice of the delay, has asked the Capital City Police chief to provide adequate police force to the Lines Area Redevelopment Project (LARP) in order to get the encroachments removed through an operation.

City Nazim Naimatullah Khan had earlier brought the matter to the knowledge of the provincial government. He had informed the authorities that while a major portion of the project site had been covered, a stretch of 2,200 running feet was yet to be covered and the work on this stretch had almost stalled only because the encroachments all along it could not be removed as yet.

The nazim had also maintained that the ban on allotment of plots was another reason for the delay. In this regard, he pointed out that a summary, seeking some sort of relaxation in the ban, had been moved to the provincial government a few months back but was still pending before it. The allotment issue, according to him, is part of a resettlement plan involving Korangi area and linked with the project.

The governor, in a communication to the CCPO, directed that the DIG (Operations) be asked to carry out a survey of the area jointly with the area's police officials and project director of the LARP to chalk out a contingency plan for the removal of the encroachments.

In view of the project's importance, the Corps-5 Headquarters had agreed to swap certain army land with that of the LARP to facilitate the commencement of the construction work, stalled since October 2003 due to the encroachments around Saddar Dawakhana.

Although the LARP project director had repeatedly approached the SHO of Saddar police station to seek necessary police protection for the anti-encroachments operation. However, he has so far failed to get a positive response.