LARKANA, Jan 3 A row flared up between Larkana Taluka Nazim Qurban Abbasi and the union council-8 nazim Barkat Shaikh over ownership of the UC office when Mr Shaikh started some renovation work in the building on Sunday.

The building which houses the UC office is located in a prime area near Pakistan Chowk with increasing value of property.

Mr Shaikh said he had undertaken repair and renovation work in accordance with procedures, which included floating of tenders by the building department.

He said that he failed to understand why the taluka nazim was opposing the repair and renovation work when the taluka municipal administration had already declared the building dangerous.

Former DCO Mohammed Hashim Leghari had allotted the building to him on Sept 10, 2001, he added.

Taluka Nazim Qurban Abbasi disputed the claim and said that Barkat Shaikh was acting in contravention of a stay order granted by a court two years ago on his petition.

He said the building belonged to the health section of the TMA and housed a vaccination office.

“I fear that after partitioning the building the UC nazim will sell it to some influential person. That's why I decided to intervene and stop the new construction,” Mr Abbasi said.

“I'll move the court and file a contempt of court petition,” said Mr Abbasi.

The UC nazim should have obtained permission from the TMA before undertaking any construction work because the building was TMA's property, he said.

But the UC nazim insisted that the district council had approved the repair and renovation plan about a year ago.

The taluka nazim said that Shaikh had posted armed men at the site and continued with the construction work. He would not allow anyone to encroach upon TMA's property, he warned.