KARACHI, Oct 19: The speakers at a conference held at the Shah Latif Library on Saturday evening expressed deep concern over inordinate delay in the construction of a national park in the metropolis, which was announced by President Prevez Musharraf on April 28 last year.
The park was to be built at the site of Gutter Baghicha at an area of 469 acres, out of its total area of 1,016 acres.
The speakers also demanded removal of all sorts of encroachments at the project site, besides cancellation of all illegal allotments of land.
They urged that the remaining area of the land be reserved for a hospital and for some educational project.
The speakers criticized the role of “civil bureaucracy” for creating hurdles in the way of the project, allegedly in collusion with land mafia and other vested interests.
They further alleged that whenever some development project was launched in the backward areas of the defunct districts of south and west, attempts were made by “vested interests” to sabotage the project.
They maintained that the people of these areas had always been deprived of fruits of development and they continued to suffer due to lack of modern civic amenities.
They observed that for the last more than 50 years the development thrust in the city had been focused on the former districts, central and east, and no significant project was launched in the underdeveloped areas of the city.
They urged the Sindh and city governments to execute the national park project immediately as announced by the president in his April 28 speech as a gift for the people of Karachi.
The conference titled “Gutter Baghicha Bachao Campaign,” was organized by its convener, Nisar Baloch, chairman of the Karachi NGOs Alliance, with the cooperation of another NGO, Shehri (Citizens for a Better environment).
Speakers included the PML-N leader, Mian Ejaz Shafi, National Workers Party’s Yusuf Mustikhan, Pakistan Awami Tehrik’s Iftikhar Shah Bokhari, National Party’s Rauf Baloch, Hidatuallh and Inayat Husain of the Pakistan People’s Party (SB).
In addition, Baloch intellectual, Mohammad Yusuf Naskandi and Nazim of SITE Town also spoke at the conference.
The participants were of the view that in case the city government failed to take any serious action with regard to their demands, the residents of the underdeveloped areas would be compelled to think that it lacked concern for their development.
Some of the speakers also called for restoring the original status of Baghicha, which was once established as a Sewage Farm on 1,017 acres on the Trans-Lyari Quarter to cater to the 0.1 million population of the town.
They also condemned the role of industrialists for grabbing the farm site and establishing marble factories and processing units, on it, thereby creating environmental pollution in the locality.
The speakers noted with serious concern that in 1993, 200 acres of Baghicha land was allotted to the Officers Cooperative Housing Society for housing purposes in violation of rules.
The speakers vowed to extend full support to the people of Trans-Lyari in their struggle for attainment of their civic rights and stressed the need for greater unity among the people in this regard.