People of Sindh still living in Moen Jo Daro era: SC

KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that the people of Sindh are still living in Moen-jo-Daro era time as development work had not been done in rural areas of the province.

Hearing petitions about the seniority of officers in the Rural Areas Development Department, the SC’s two-member bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed observed that there was no development work done in the rural areas although a department was created for the purpose and staff employed. The court observed that Rs105 billion were utilized for water supply schemes for the people of Tharparkar but still the people could not get clean drinking water. The court observed that departments established in the name of rural development were later dissolved and employees were shifted to the surplus pool. The court directed the respondents to file comments on the petition.

Meanwhile, the SC’s two member bench, headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed, adjourned hearing the cases with regard to encroachments on government land and public parks and unauthorised construction in the city as one judge of the bench Justice Munib recused himself from hearing the case.

The court, in the meantime, directed secretary defence to file compliance report about the removal of commercial activities from the cantonment lands. The court on the previous hearing had ordered the cantonment boards to remove all sorts of commercial activities from the cantonment lands as they could be used only for cantonment purposes. The court had ordered the removal of marriage lawns from the Askari Amusement Park at old Sabzi Mandi, Global Marquees on the emergency military medical supplies land for Sindh and Balochistan near the FTC flyover and other commercial activities falling under the cantonment areas at Rashid Minhas Road, Karsaz and Shahra-e-Faisal.

The senior director Karachi Metropolitan Corporation submitted a report mentioning that 2,285 shops and KMC markets on amenity land will be demolished in Lea market, Taj Mahal, Jubilee Cloth Market, Aurangzaib Market, Bahadur Shah Market, Pichter Road, Madina Cloth Market, Akbar Road and Urdu Bazar market.