Ownership rights to Mubarak village residents: officials ignoring Sindh chief minister's order

'Goth Abad Scheme' officials have been ignoring Sindh Chief Minister's order of issuing the ownership rights and lease documents to the residents of Mubarak Village for the past half year, residents have complained. This order was made by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah while addressing a public meeting in Mubarak Village in October, 2009.
He also handed down ownership rights and lease documents to some residents of the village and asked the 'Goth Abad Scheme' officials to issue lease documents to all residents. Half year has passed and not a single lease document has been received by the residents of the village.
When this scribe contacted an official of Goth Abad Scheme, Mubarak Baloch, he said that the residents of Mubarak Village would soon get their lease documents. "We are preparing all lease documents and, after completion of the process, we will go from door to door and hand over documents to the residents" said Mubarak Baloch.
"Officials already took half-year time for issuing of the ownership documents. We do not like the way they waste our time. Officials must have handed over lease documents in one month time", said Dad Baksh, a resident of the village. It is also learnt that the chief minister had announced that the Mubarak Village would be developed into a model village where fishermen would be provided all basic facilities.
Residents of Mubarak Village complained that the government had not taken any concrete step towards developing their village into a model village despite making a pledge to do so. The Sindh government had announced in October 2009 that it would develop Mubarak Village, which is located along the western coastal side of Karachi, into a model village where all basic facilities would be available for the fishermen community.
However, the villagers complained that the government had not taken any practical step to fulfil their long-standing demands. Talking to this scribe, a village resident, Khuda Ganj, said that it seemed to him that their dreams would never be fulfilled, and he felt great disappointment for that.
An area of scenic beauty, the tiny village with a population of 10,000 people is a fishermen's village located near Hawkes Bay. The village is 35 kilometre away from Karachi city. It has no basic facilities like running water, schools, healthcare facilities and electricity, etc.
Another resident of he village, Bashir Baloch, regretted that despite the chief minister's announcement, no officials concerned had paid any visit to the village. He said that it had yet to be confirmed whether they had prepared any plan in this regard or not.
"We are still unaware about the construction of a small jetty in the area," Bashir said. The construction of a jetty was a long-standing demand of the village people, he added. "We are facing a lot of problems, especially in unloading fish from boats, because there is no facility of a jetty in the area," said a local social worker Khuda Ganj.
Most of these fishermen are dependent on small boats, which are built in a traditional style. Because of their conventional style, these boats are unable to sail in stormy weather or when there is a strong current in the sea. As a result of that, the fishermen have to suspend their activities, sometimes for as long as four months, another fisherman said.
The fishermen urged the chief minister to take necessary action about what he had promised with the residents of Mubarak Village and ask the officials why they did not take any step after his announcing of making the village as a model village.