Low-cost housing urged to eliminate land mafia

[LahoreEstate]

KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Katchi Abadis Mohammad Rafique Engineer told the house during Thursday’s question hour that to run the land mafia out of business, it was essential to provide affordable housing to the poor on a timely basis.

‘Legislation against encroachers is being prepared while an anti-encroachment force is also in the works. There exists a nexus of land-grabbers that eye government land. If people are provided affordable housing (in a short time) the land-grabbers would be out of business. The present situation is that if a man books a plot, his grandsons are usually the ones who get possession because of the time it takes. There should also be a non-utilisation tax applied on land,’ said the minister.

He was replying to a supplementary question asked by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Bilquis Mukhtar. She had observed that land-grabbers had turned katchi abadis into a business, because after a settlement was granted lease by the government the land mafia moved in to gobble up more land and exploit the situation.

Questions related to the rural development and public health engineering departments were deferred by Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro as the ministers concerned were unavailable.

The debate on katchi abadis had been sparked by a question sent by National People’s Party lawmaker Arif Mustafa Jatoi, who had asked Rafique Engineer if the katchi abadis of Karachi had been merged with the CDGK. In his written reply the minister negated this assertion.

In reply to other supplementary questions, Rafique Engineer – who had come well prepared to answer the lawmakers’ queries – told the house that there were no katchi abadis’ representatives in the Karachi City Council, while the residents of such settlements had full voting rights just as any other Pakistani and could vote in the local bodies, provincial and national assemblies’ elections.

A member asked if katchi abadis were considered the same after they were granted lease. The minister explained that these communities were originally illegal settlements on state land but after the grant of lease, they were entitled to full municipal rights. ‘Thereafter they are considered pakki abadis.’

When the Pakistan People’s Party’s Saleem Khursheed Khokhar asked what would happen if further encroachment occurred in a settlement after regularisation, the minister replied that if, for example, an amenity plot had been encroached upon, his department would inform the authority concerned.

Another member asked what action the government would take if commercial activity was being carried out in a notified settlement meant for residential purposes. Rafique Engineer said there were provisions in the law to change the status from residential to residential-cum-commercial if the relevant dues were paid. ‘We cannot stop someone from setting up a cottage industry.’

The Katchi Abadis minister also gave the members a brief history lesson about the development of Karachi when a member asked him about the status of the metropolis’ goths, or villages. He said Karachi was originally a taluka while the town extended only to Kharadar. The city was within the erstwhile district Pipri while as the metropolis grew, the goths once in Karachi’s periphery were absorbed into its urban area.

Keamari goths

Questions were also raised about the regularisation of settlements such as Machchar Colony in Keamari Town. The minister said that as these settlements were built on the federal government’s (Karachi Port Trust) land, hence a no objection certificate from that authority was required. The MQM’s parliamentary leader Syed Sardar Ahmed told the house that the land in question was disputed and a case was currently pending in the high court. ‘It is under litigation. We cannot do anything until the judgment comes,’ added Rafique Engineer.

The supplementary questions stemmed from a query sent by Humera Alwani, who had asked what the procedure was for regularisation of katchi abadis. In the written reply, the minister enumerated the criteria as spelt out under the Sindh Katchi Abadi Act 1987 and the SKAA Regulations 1993.

These include: The settlement should have been in existence on or before 23/3/85; it must have at least 40 dwelling units; land belonging to provincial agencies shall exclude the area reserved for amenities such as road, water supply, sewerage, dispensary and also the area under flood protection and danger zones; land owned by federal government agencies shall be subject to NOC from them and land owned by a private person(s) or societies shall be subject to drawing a mutual agreement between the party and the authority.

Rafique Engineer also told the house that the Katchi Abadis Authority works on a self-finance basis ‘and does not get a penny from the Sindh government.’

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