KARACHI, Feb 8: The Sindh High Court stayed on Friday demolition of encroachments in some areas, which form path of the 16.5-km long Lyari Expressway, until Feb 13.
The order was passed by a division bench, comprising Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Zia Pervez, when a petition seeking stay of the demolition work, filed by four petitioners of Shershah, came up.
When the matter was taken up by the court, counsel for the city government sought time for filing comments with regard to the contentions of the petitioners vis-a-vis the Rs5 billion Lyari Expressway, which would start from Sohrab Goth on Super Highway and terminate at Mauripur Bridge.
The Secretary Local Government, District Coordination Officer, City District Nazim, Director-General of the Lyari Development Authority and Advocate-General Sindh have been made respondents in the petition filed by Mr Sultan, Mrs Razia, Mohammed Rafiq and Ms Sadia, filed by counsel Ghulam Abbas Soomro.
They approached the court apprehending demolition of their property in the government campaign to remove encroachments and prayed to declare such an act illegal and without any legal basis.
It is the case of petitioner Sultan, who is engaged in export of vegetables and fruits, that he had bought a plot of 5,000 square yards for Rs1.5 million and spent considerable amount to raise the infrastructure.
In 1997, the petitioner had approached the KMC to regularize the lease deed. It executed four deeds for 99 years in favour of the petitioners against the payment of Rs300 a square yard.
The petitioner has claimed that without adequate notice and compensation his property cannot be demolished.
The Lyari riverbed of 100 metres on either side had been encroached upon and approximately 1.5 million square yards of government land was occupied illegally by land mafia.
The project cost has been estimated at Rs4 billion and it will be completed in 36 months. Funded by the federal government, the first tranche of the project Rs500 million, allocated in the federal budget, has been released.
It is not yet clear how much would be actually spent on providing compensation to the affected people.
It would be the responsibility of the provincial government to remove encroachment from the way of Lyari Expressway to provide the National Highway Authority a free space to build the project and complete it within the stipulated time.
The provincial government has completed the survey and submitted it to the federal government. The areas for the resettlement of the displaced people have been identified in the survey.
Displaced persons would, reportedly, be in the first place provided 80- squared yard plot in Surjani Town and Saeedabad and Rs50,000 cash.
According one report, about 14,000 families, residing along the riverbed, would be shifted and provided alternative land free of cost, besides.
The city government had proposed amendment in the design of the project not only to save many people from being displaced but also for saving considerable government fund. The local government had suggested that this could be achieved by keeping the width of the Expressway at 40 feet throughout.
While the government is emphasizing the need for completing the project within the stipulated time frame, many more petitions have been filed with the Sindh High Court, praying for stalling the demolition drive. Some of the petitions are expected to come up next week when the above petition will be taken up, on Feb 13.