KARACHI, Jan 28: The Sindh police department owes over Rs 6.8 million in rent to the defunct KMC for its four police stations functioning in different KMC properties, Dawn learnt on Monday.
The rent has been outstanding since 1987 and the KMC was not even been paid a single penny by its tenants during the last over two decades.
The Joharabad PS, functioning in a KMC market, owes Rs 34,67,443 since 1972, followed by the Clifton PS which owes Rs 22,26,519 since 1988.
The Mehmoodabad PS has been functioning on the premises of UC-88 since 1972 and it owes Rs 8,57,760.
The Pak Colony PS owes Rs 2,69,178 in terms of rent since 1987. The police station is housed in the UC-6 office since May 1972 on an area of 1,088 square feet at an annual rent of Rs 21,696.
Sources in the defunct KMC said that the concerned authorities were approached on several occasions for the clearance of their outstanding dues, but in vain.
The present city government has now inherited the liability as the defunct corporation has assumed the role of the city government.
Sources said as the police department had been facing a financial crunch, it won’t be able to clear its dues.
The gravity of the situation could be assessed from the fact that several police stations are working on a “self-help” basis and are finding it difficult to overcome their daily expenses.
However, even in better days, the police department did not clear its dues, said a KMC official.
IGP Sindh Syed Kamal Shah at a recent news briefing had complained of severe shortage of funds.
According to him, some prime locations of the police property which had been lying idle might soon be put to auction through the privatisation commission to generate funds.
As many as 104 police stations, of a total of 356 in entire Sindh, have been set up on occupied properties.
Thirty-seven such police stations are functioning in the city alone, police statistics showed.
In Larkana, 36 police stations exist on occupied properties followed by Hyderabad 16, Sukkur 12 and Mirpurkhas three.
According to official data, eight police stations are functioning on rented premises in Karachi, followed by Hyderabad seven and Larkana four.
The police stations functioning on rented premises in Karachi are: Model Colony, Baldia, Pak Colony, Mauripur, Mahmoodabad, Clifton, Nabi Bux, Defence, Joharabad, Airport and Malir Cantt. A majority of them are on KMC buildings.
In Hyderabad, 57 police stations have been set up in rented buildings.
As per new organisational structure, Karachi has one city district, 18 towns, 41 sub-divisions and 100 police stations. In interior, there are two regions, 15 districts, 71 sub-division and 256 police stations.
However, sources said and nearly all the properties, which have been rented out to the police by different organisations or individuals, have a similar story.
The police record shows that 26 police stations are established at government and semi-government buildings other than the police department. The record does not show whether the police were illegally occupying such buildings, as these are neither on rent, nor these are the property of the police department.
The police department issues notifications to establish a police station without awarding funds to purchase land and build a structure. All such police stations have been operating on encroached lands, the sources said.
