SHC seeks daily progress report of University Road, Tariq Road projects

Police told to help KDA remove encroachments in Surjani Town

The Sindh High Court on Wednesday directed the local government secretary to file a day-to-day progress report of the University Road and Tariq Road renovation projects.

The directives came on a petition filed by a citizen seeking quick completion of the road renovation projects. The petitioner has submitted that the projects had been started three months ago and the slow pace of work had been causing severe inconvenience to residents and commuters. 

The petitioner contended that these projects were causing traffic congestion on most major roads of the metropolis and the situation was being compounded by the lack of traffic police personnel to guide motorists.

He further submitted that reputed and professional bodies such as the Pakistan Engineering Council should be overseeing the project to ensure that top quality material was being used and all necessary standards were met.

The court was requested to direct the local bodies government to expedite work on the projects and complete it at the earliest. The petitioner sought directives to the traffic police to ensure better traffic management and also the details of the contract award of the project.

The division bench headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar observed that the provincial law officer was directed to file a daily progress report however no comments have been filed yet. The court repeated notices to the chief secretary, local government secretary and others, directing the LG secretary to appear in person with comments and progress report of the project.

Encroachments

The court also ordered the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) director to ensure removal of encroachments set up by land grabbers from Scheme 48, Surjani Town. The order came on a petition filed by Mohammad Nasir and others against non-allotment of their plots.

The court was informed by the KDA officials that possession was not given to the petitioners due to encroachment by land grabbers. They submitted that encroachments would be removed as soon as police support was provided to the authority.

The court directed the KDA to remove the encroachments and directed the police and other law enforcement agencies to provide them all necessary support in this regard.