SC seeks reports on rehabilitation of families affected by demolitions along Gujjar, Orangi drains

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed the Sindh chief secretary, Karachi mayor and commissioner to submit progress reports by Thursday with regard to implementation of the court orders in the case pertaining to rehabilitation of the families affected by the demolitions along Gujjar and Orangi nullahs.

During hearing the applications with regard to implementation of the court orders in the Gujjar and Orangi nullahs rehabilitation case, a three-member bench of the SC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar asked a provincial law officer about the implementation of the court orders.

The officer submitted that an outstanding rental amount had been paid to the majority of the affected persons of the Gujjar and Orangi nullahs anti-encroachment operations while the rest of the affected families could not be paid rental amount due to the death of some of them or other technical reasons.

A counsel for the petitioners submitted that the court order had not been obeyed with regard to the rehabilitation of the affected persons in letter and spirit. The apex court directed the chief secretary, commissioner and mayor to appear before the court along with progress reports on the rehabilitation of the affected families in the light of proposals given to them.

It is pertinent to mention that the SC had earlier asked the affected families that were displaced due to the anti-encroachment operations along the Gujjar and Orangi nullahs to consider two new proposals by the Sindh government with regard to their rehabilitation scheme.

The Sindh government had offered the 6,932 affectees to either collect an amount for the purchase of land and cost of construction as per the market value of the land from where they were dispossessed or take an 80-square-yard plot in the Malir Development Authority along with funds for construction in accordance with standards set out by the Pakistan Engineering Council.

A non-governmental organisation and affected people of Gujjar and Orangi nullahs had moved the apex court against the failure of the provincial government to comply with an earlier order for providing them suitable compensation as their houses had been razed during operations to widen the two drains

They had filed a contempt-of-court application against then chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah submitting that the SC had clearly directed the provincial government to rehabilitate and compensate the affected people within two years.

Their counsel Faisal Siddiqui said the CM had undertaken before the apex court that a scheme titled ‘Resettlement of Affectees of Gujjar, Mehmoodabad and Orangi Nullah’ would be executed by government at an estimated cost of Rs10 billion and the project would be completed in all respects within a maximum period of two years. He submitted that none of the directions of the court had been complied with by the alleged contemnor.