Gujjar Nullah cleaning operation halted over residents’ resistance

Karachi

The civic administration was left with no option other than to abort the Gujjar Nullah anti-encroachment operation on Monday as hundreds of residents came out to protest the bulldozing of their houses.

Claimed to have issued eviction notices to residents of the over 10,000 houses, built on encroached land,  beforehand, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) spokesman said the operation would continue after help of law enforcement agencies personnel would have been sought.

Minister for local government Jam Khan Shoro visited the area following the ruckus but could not really do anything with respect to the operation.

The 13.5 kilometre long drain starts from block 11-J of North Karachi and ends in Lyari, with the waste falling into the Lyari River.

District Central deputy commissioner, Capt Farid Ud Din, said we were determined to carry out the operation but the people had planned to stage a resistance since morning. “They came out in full force, while women and children formed a human-chain.”

He said all machinery and equipments required for removal of encroachments were moved to the storm water drain’s location a day ago.

The drain was actually 160-ft wide but its width was now reduced to only 30-ft owing to encroachment and land grabbing, the DC Central said, adding, that cleaning up the drain was the government’s priority. “If this Nullah is cleared, half of Karachi’s drainage problems will be solved,” Capt Farid Ud Din claimed.

The DC added that the people had been ordered to clear the area voluntarily and were warned that in case of failure the government would use force. The captain said it would take at least six months for the authorities to clear the drain.