Karachi: Anti-encroachment drive launched to clear KCR track

F.P. Report

KARACHI: An anti-encroachment operation has been launched in Gulshan block-13 for restoration of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR).

The Supreme Court had recently ordered the authorities to remove encroachments and illegal structures from the route of the KCR within a month.

The anti-encroachment cell personnel have launched the drive from Urdu College railway station and started removing 300 huts and concrete structures made on the track.

The city authorities in the previous phase of the drive against encroachments had cleared 7.2 kilometers of the railway track in district central of Karachi.

The city administration in an earlier meeting had decided to start clearing the Karachi Circular Railway track from today on the orders of the Supreme Court.

A plan for the removal of the ‘encroachments’ along the route of the KCR also finalised too. The officials in the meeting decided to clear the track within 10 days.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Pakistan Railways, Karachi Development Authority, Sindh Mass Transit Authority, Sindh Building Control Authority, Anti-Encroachment Cell and all deputy commissioners.

The meeting had decided to remove the encroachments from at least 50-feet on both sides of the railway track.

It is to mention here that several earlier attempts to clear the railway track ended with little success.

The 44-kilometre KCR track passes through different districts of the metropolis. Several people have built shops, houses and other structures on the track in past years.

Last year, the railways authorities conducted the operation to clear the track in December. They were even assisted by the central district administration central and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. The operation ended after only 7.2 kilometre of the track was cleared in the District Central.

The operation started from Gharibabad’s furniture market and ended near North Nazimabad. The KCR track, however, still exists in Musa Colony and Mujahid Colony in central district.

The drive was moved to District West of the city but no progress made since then.