6,500 houses to be built for Karachiites affected by storm water drains’ cleaning

The Sindh cabinet has decided to construct 6,500 housing units over an area of 248 acres to resettle the families affected by the anti-encroachment operation conducted along the three major storm water drains in Karachi.

“PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has categorically directed the provincial government to resettle the affected people of the three main drains: the Gujjar, Mehmoodabad and Orangi nullahs,” said the CM, who chaired the meeting of the advisory group on Thursday.

He said he has already allocated Rs1 billion for the development of 248 acres the Malir Development Authority (MDA) has handed over to the local government for the

resettlement plan.

LG Minister Syed Nasir Shah presented two proposals, saying that each of the affected families of the three drains can either be given a properly developed 80 square yard plot with a substantial amount to construct their house or his department can build their houses for them.

He said that 248 acres has already been handed over to the LG department by the MDA, and the Rs1 billion approved by the CM has also been released to carry out development works. He added that his department is ready to develop the plots and hand them over to the affected people.

The cabinet discussed the matter thoroughly, with most of its members being in favour of constructing 6,500 housing units for the affected people as directed by Bilawal. Information Minister Sharjeel Memon said that handing over the plots to the affected people could result in a real estate business in the area, so houses should be constructed through experienced and well-reputed firms to provide accommodation to the affected people in an honourable manner.

The LG minister told the advisory group that each of the affected families is being paid a monthly rent of Rs15,000, which is also an unprecedented initiative of the provincial government.

Houses for flood victims

Revenue Minister Makhdoom Mahboob Zaman told the cabinet that the houses that had collapsed in the recent heavy rains and floods had been constructed on government land. He said that on the CM’s directives, the Board of Revenue had carried out an inspection and concluded that the land of the collapsed houses could be regularised under the Goth Abad Scheme, the Goth Abad Housing Programme, the Regularisation of the Village Programme, and the Katchi Abadi Act.

The advisory group decided to regularise the houses according to their specific categories so that the flood victims can be paid for the reconstruction of their houses under the Peoples Housing Programme.

The CM directed the chief secretary to issue an order to the relevant deputy commissioners to expedite the regularisation of the plots so that the affected people could benefit from them.

Investigation allowance

The cabinet discussed the proposal of introducing special investigation allowance (SIA) for investigating officers of the police so that proper investigation of cases, particularly those dealing with heinous crimes, could be conducted.

The CM said the SIA has been proposed for the ranks from ASI to AIG. He said that the precedent of such an allowance is available in other interrogating agencies such as NAB and ACE Sindh.

It was pointed out that on an average, an IO investigates around 57 criminal cases in a year. The cabinet approved granting the SIA. Its accumulative financial impact would be around Rs442.471 million.

It was decided that a certification course would be introduced, and this allowance would be given to certified IOs only. The SSP Investigations would exclude the names of those IOs who fail to complete their respective investigations within a month. The allowance would not be provided to officers who are under suspension or who are without any assignment due to a disciplinary action or poor performance.