Operation to retrieve KCR track continues in District East

Three kilometres of the Karachi Circular Railway’s (KCR) track were cleared of encroachments on Friday on the third day of the drive against encroachments along the KCR route that began on Wednesday on the directives of the Supreme Court (SC).

The apex court had ordered the Pakistan Railways last week to retrieve the land along the tracks of the KCR and hand it over to the Sindh government.

According to an official of the East deputy commissioner office, a joint operation was carried out on Friday by the Karachi commissioner and the Pakistan Railways in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 11 in Hussain Hazara Goth and near the University of Karachi railway station.

Heavy machinery was used during the operation and a large contingent of police was deployed to provide security to the anti-encroachment teams.

Speaking to media persons, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Assistant Commissioner Ahmed Somroo said not all the houses were demolished during the operation in Hazara Goth. Only those houses or portion of houses were demolished which were either on the track of the KCR or were protruding outside towards the KCR track, he maintained. He added that no law and order issue was faced during the operation.

An assistant engineer of the Pakistan Railways, Muhammad Mastoi, said a huge area of the KCR’s right of way had successfully been cleared in a span of three-day operation. He assured that the operation in District East would be completed soon after which another phase of operation would be carried out in District Central.

Mastoi said there was no such policy of the Pakistan Railways that called for providing alternative places to the encroachers of its land.

Meanwhile, residents of Hazara Goth expressed resentment due to the operation. An elderly lady, Nasreen, said the authorities should have at least given them proper notices before the operation. “They could have postponed it until Eid,” she said.