Sindh Minister for Local Governments Jam Khan Shoro has urged the courts to lift the ban on land allotment, which causes high illegal settlements particularly in Karachi. Speaking at a meeting with builders at Association of Builders and Developers (Abad) House here, he said that the court in order to discourage Katchi Abadis and illegal encroachment should revisit its decision and lift the ban on land allotments.
He opined that rules for land regulations in Karachi should be amended in accordance with cantonment laws and announced to constitute committee for consultation on it. In response to the proposal floated by the chairman Abad Muhammad Hanif Gohar, he said that PPP government did not support any amnesty scheme and if the builders were keen to have such scheme, policy decision would be made after consultation with the stakeholders.
He said that that they had received a number of complaints against builders related to delay in projects' completion and exorbitant extra charges, urging Abad to constitute a committee to redress these issues. He further said that waste management was continuous exercise and Sindh government had initiated its campaign since January, 2016 and termed MQM-led Clean Karachi campaign as 'anachronistic'.
He also censured Punjab's waste management exercise, saying that Sindh government was not only dumping the waste but putting efforts to utilise it for alternate energy. While requesting the builders to make Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants as built-in feature of their projects, Shoro said that the Sindh government, besides initiating maintenance work at Dhabeji and Pipri water supply lines, would launch K-IV project soon.
To another demand of Abad regarding delay in issuing NOC by Civil Aviation Authority and Pakistan Air Force, he said that this matter was out of Sindh government's domain. Chairman Abad Hanif Gohar said that members of Abad were afraid of unwarranted action by Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA). He offered the Sindh government to take action against the builders, if any of Abad members was found guilty of violation of rules. He also proposed the Sindh government to announce amnesty scheme to regularise those projects, which violate relevant rules.
He clearly said that no member of Abad was involved in illegal construction and the Abad would support SBCA against illegal activities, demanding the Sindh government to bring all By-laws of SBCA at par with Cantonment By-laws. He said that commercialisation of roads should be delayed till the development of infrastructure and demanded to give permanent membership to Abad nominee in the governing body of KW&SB as like past.
He further requested to withdraw letter no. MD/KW&SB/2015 dated 16th December, 2015 immediately and termed the services rates provided by the KMC was illegally and unjustified. Director General SBCA Agha Mansoor Abbas said that Karachi was facing many problems including water shortage and up-gradation of all infrastructure is inevitable to provide civic facilities to the people of Karachi. Former Chairman Abad Mohsin Shekhani said that uniform policy for construction industry should be enforced to bring all organisations on the same page. Administrator Karachi Roshan Sheikh, MD KW&SB Misbahuddin, Senior Vice Chairman Arif Jeeva and others were also present on the occasion.
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