China-cutting on 35000 amenity plots in Karachi, SC told

Naimat Khan

KARACHI: Supreme Court of Pakistan was informed on Wednesday that around 35000 amenity plots in the city has been illegally allotted.

This disclosure was made in Karachi Development Authority (KDA) report, which invited irk of Supreme Court bench. Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that Karachi has been ruined by the KDA. He asked the authority to present master plan on next hearing.

According to KDA report thousands of square yards of 35,000 amenity plots in the metropolis have been taken over through ‘china cuts’.

The court ordered KDA, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, and Deputy Commissioners to immediately evacuate the occupation of the plots coming under their mandated domains, and directed the development authority to cancel allotments of welfare plots with immediate effect.

The bench expressed its displeasure on the absence of KDA director general during the hearing. The director’s counsel claimed that his client is on bed rest due to high blood pressure. In reply to the excuse, the court remarked that the respondent’s health will improve immediately if warrants against him are issued.

The KDA in its report claimed that illegal constructions in 27 different areas were bulldozed by the authority in the last two days.

The court noticed that the last action against encroachment in Karachi was conducted during Gen Ayub Khan’s tenure; since then Karachi has turned into a trash den.

Moreover, it was revealed on Wednesday that KDA land worth over Rs1 trillion is illegally occupied.

According to reports land grabbers sold KDA land in Surjani Town, Korangi, North Karachi, North Nazimabad, Gulshan Town and Nazimabad.

According to reports, 12,000 residential and commercial plots were illegally sold for peanuts after they were cut into 80 to 1,000 yard plots.