One kilometre of KCR track cleared

On the first day of an anti-encroachment operation to clear the Karachi Circular Railway track on Wednesday.

Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani’s 10-day drive to clean Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) track from encroachment kicked off in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. No opposition was, however, seen during the operation.

Shallwani had given a direction to the relevant authorities to carry out the anti-encroachment operation on both sides of the track within a 50-foot limit. The operation was carried out in Gulshan-e-Iqbal’s Block 13-D opposite the Federal Urdu University of Arts Science and Technology. “The exact operation started from the Urdu College station,” said a statement from the Commissioner House which added that during the operation 300 shanties and a few solid structures were destroyed. A heavy contingent of district and Pakistan Railways police was present during the operation.

Talking to The News, Gulshan-e-Iqbal assistant commissioner Ahmed Ali Soomro said no violence or backlash was observed during the first day of operation, because it targeted soft encroachments. “Over one kilometre of the track from the starting point has been cleared today,” he said.