KARACHI: Riffat Mukhtar Raja, IG Sindh Police, proposed that committees need to be formed under deputy commissioners to address the matters of land grabbing. He said representatives of all stakeholders from governmental institutions, law enforcement agencies and private sector should be part of the committees.
Deputy Commissioners are the custodians of land and revenue records to take informed decisions, and law enforcement agencies can help implement these decisions, he added.
IG Police informed that learner’s driving licenses will now be made online and it will provide relief to the general public. He also apprised that the police want to e-tag 25,000 repeat offenders of crimes, but there are financial constraints as each e-tagging cost $400.
Atif Ikram Sheikh, President FPCCI, has said that land mafia in Sindh has discouraged investments in f the province and damaged the image of Pakistan as an investment destination. Law & order is the lifeline of investment, industrial, trade, logistics, commercial and economic activities, he added.
Riffat Mukhtar Raja visited FPC along with top leadership of Sindh Police; including, Khadim Hussain Rind, Additional IG Karachi, Syed Pir Muhammad Shah, DIG Establishment, Iqbal Dara, DIG Traffic and Syed Asad Raza, DIG South and Syed Ali Asif, Additional IG Admin.
Saquib Fayyaz Magoon, SVP FPCCI, explained that we can unleash an industrial revolution in Sindh, if we curb land mafia from the province. He added that, due to criminal activities of the land mafia, new industrial areas are not attracting industries; and, instead, the industrial plots in established industrial areas in Karachi have become so expensive that they are now available at Rs 400 million per acre. No new industry can afford these expensive plots and expansion of the existing ones is also hampered, he added.
Magoon apprised that incidents of extortion have also witnessed an increase of over 300 percent as the figures show hat 50 incidents of extortion were reported in 2023; whereas 12 such cases had appeared in 2022 – reflecting a significant increase of 317 percent.
Zaki Aijaz, VP FPCCI, stressed that the business, industry and trade community is worried about the safety and security of goods transportation routes from Karachi to up country as there are widespread theft and security issues both ways; first, transporting imported raw materials from Karachi to other provinces and then transporting back the finished goods to Karachi for export.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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