Encroachment operations: SC orders Sindh govt to pay compensation to victims

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday ordered the Sindh government to pay compensation cheques to victims of Karachi’s Gujjar, Mahmoodabad and Orangi Nullahs and submit a report in the court in 15 days.

The Supreme Court had earlier summoned outgoing Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, the Karachi mayor and others in the Gujjar and other nullahs contempt of court case.

A non-governmental organisation and over 6,000 affected people of Gujjar and Orangi Town Nullahs had moved the court against the failure of the Sindh government to comply with a Supreme Court order to suitably compensate and rehabilitate people whose houses were razed during an operation to remove encroachments from along these drains.

Later talking to the newsmen outside the court on Thursday, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said cheques for people who became homeless due to the anti-encroachment operation at Gujjar Nullah will be prepared in 15 days.

Murad Ali Shah said he worked seriously to end encroachments. He said he was ready to give money for plots and construction of homes for the victims.

The CM assured the court that they were trying to solve the problem. He said the government was not in favor of making people homeless.

The Sindh CM said the federal government had first taken the matter of compensation upon itself and then taken a U-turn. The Sindh government worked on the issue with good intentions, he added.

“We continued to work, that’s why the monthly report could not be submitted,” he said, offering apology to the court for not submitting the report.