KARACHI, March 17: The Ombudsman’s secretariat has warned the Malir Town administration to remove encroachments on a plot positively or face contempt proceedings.

The secretariat, in a letter to the Town Nazim, expressed concern over delay in the implementation of its orders regarding removal of encroachments on an amenity plot reserved for a dispensary and a community centre in Malir.

The Ombudsman in his decision on Dec 12, 2002, had sought removal of the encroachments within two weeks on a complaint filed by an area NGO against the Sindh Kutchi Abadi Authority (SKAA).

It has now asked the Town Nazim to expedite the dispatch of the compliance report to the secretariat within two weeks, otherwise contempt proceedings shall be initiated under the Establishment of the Office of Ombudsman for the Province of Sindh Act 1991.

The general-secretary of the All-Sindh Kehar Welfare Association said that the orders of the Ombudsman to remove the encroachments were not being implemented by the town administration, and the matter was being delayed.

The association claimed that it had approached the town police, capital police, the home department, the Sindh Kutchi Abadies Authority and the Sindh Local Government Commission in this regard.

The Chief Executive’s Secretariat had also sought appropriate action in the matter but the issue has not been resolved, the association claimed.

The complainant had stated before the Ombudsman that plots No 27, 28 in Mehran Colony, E-1 Area (Malir), had been earmarked as amenity plots during a survey by a World Bank team but a gang of encroachers has encroached upon the land in connivance with the concerned officials of the SKAA.