KARACHI: The Supreme Court-mandated commission on water and sanitation in Sindh on Wednesday granted one month to the owner of a supermarket to shift the parking lot of his business from the Lyari riverbed.

However, the head of the commission retired Justice Amir Hani Muslim warned of stern action if parking or any other activity was noticed after the stipulated period within the riverbed or on its bank.

The owner of Imtiaz Supermarket Umar Imtiaz along with his counsel turned up before the commission on Wednesday after he was summoned along with officials of departments concerned for using the riverbed near Gulshan-i-Iqbal as a parking lot.

He assured the commission that the Lyari riverbed will not be used for any commercial activity or car parking as far as the superstore was concerned. But, he sought one month’s time for the alternative arrangement of parking for his customers.

Commission comes down hard on SBCA DG for ignoring encroachments

While granting 30-day time, Justice Muslim ruled that after the lapse of stipulated time, if any parking or activity was noticed within the riverbed or on its bank stern action would be taken by the police and directed the Karachi commissioner and city police chief to issue respective directives to all the authorities concerned.

He observed that riverbed cannot be encroached upon either by any public or private organisation and in future the officials of all the departments concerned must remain vigilant as no encroachment on the banks or inside the beds of rivers in any part of the city would be tolerated.

These encroachments are primary factor which has destroyed the flow of sewerage drains of entire city, he added.

Illegal encroachments irk commission

The commission came down hard on the director general of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) Iftikhar Qaimkhani for allowing supermarkets to operate without parking lots and illegal encroachments across the city.

It also put the SBCA chief on notice on many complaints received from Nazimabad and other areas of the provincial metropolis and directed him to take immediate action ensuring demolition of illegal encroachments and also make certain that all the buildings within the city were regulated as per the Sindh Building Control Ordinance.

The commission also directed its focal person Asif Hyder Shah to coordinate on these issues with SBCA, Karachi commissioner and police.

The SBCA DG said that they have a police station, but complained that there was shortage of police force and the SHO has been posted there for last five years.

When confronted, the city police chief conceded that an SHO cannot continue for such a long time at a police station. Therefore, the commission ruled that the SHO needed to be transferred in terms of the rules and an officer of good repute be posted in his place forthwith.

Cleanliness around road ordered

The commission directed the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) and Karachi Cantonment Board (KCB) to clean the areas around Rafiqui Shaheed Road.

After being summoned, the chief executive officer of the KCB submitted that sewage and water was the responsibility of KWSB while the disposal of municipal waste was the liability of KCB.

The commission pointed out that municipal disposal was lying on footpaths of Rafiqui Shaheed Road while sewage was also surfacing on road from leaked pipelines.

It asked the KWSB to plug the sewerage or potable water lines and clean the area by late evening while the KCB chief also assured the commission that the entire municipal disposal of the area will be regularly taken care of and dustbins be placed immediately for proper disposal of waste.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2018