The Sindh Assembly on Friday unanimously passed the Sindh Katchi Abadis (Amendment) Bill 2022 to grant an extension of over 14 years in the cut-off date in the past for the construction of a shanty settlement in the province in order to regularise it by the provincial government.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla had moved the bill for amending the Sindh Katchi Abadis Act-1987. He sought the support of all the legislators in the house to unanimously adopt the proposed law, saying it would benefit a large number of Katchi Abadis in the province.
Before the passage of the bill, katchi abadis or slums which came into existence until June 30, 1997, had been allowed to move their case for regularisation. After the passage of the new bill, the same cut-off date has been extended until December 31, 2011.
Meanwhile, the house was given a firm assurance that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and district municipal corporations in the city were fully active to timely complete the task of de-silting of storm water drains in Karachi to avoid the situation of urban flooding in the current monsoon season.
The assurance to this effect was given by Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government Muhammad Saleem Baloch in response to a call-attention notice by an opposition legislator of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamal Siddqui.
The opposition legislator recalled that the previous government of the PTI had provided massive financial assistance in the past year to carry out the de-silting of major storm water drains in Karachi before the monsoon seaoson.
He feared that Karachi once more could witness instances of urban flooding after heavy monsoon rains in coming days, as the PTI’s regime hadn’t been in power any more to provide support to the city to avoid such a civic disaster.
He said the local government minister should brief the house about the steps taken by the KMC and DMCs to avoid a disastrous situation during monsoons.
While responding to another call-attention notice, the local government’s parliamentary secretary said that a world-class football stadium would be built at the Kakri Ground of Lyari as the open urban space was being transformed under the Karachi Neighbourhood Improvement Project being undertaken with the assistance of the World Bank.
He assured the house that budding footballers and children of Lyari wouldn’t be charged any fee for the new sporting facilities being built at the Kakri Ground.
He said that more playgrounds in the city were being transformed in a similar manner under the KNIP. Earlier, speaking on his call-attention notice, the lone MPA of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal in the house, Syed Abdul Rasheed, feared that children of Lyari would have to pay thousands of rupees every month as a fee for using the under-construction sports complex at the Kakri Ground.