SBCA told to get Karachi’s 382 unsafe buildings vacated

Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani has directed the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to get all 382 buildings, which have been declared hazardous, vacated in order to ensure safety of the citizens.

In pursuance of Supreme Court orders, Shallwani chaired a meeting on Monday in this regard. “In case of any loss due to these dangerous buildings”, he said “the relevant officials will be held responsible.”

SBCA director for dangerous buildings Ashkar Dawer shared there were hazardous buildings in the city out of which 303 buildings were located in the South district. He said 14 of them were located in the East district and 10 were in the Central district.

He told the meeting that notices had been served to the owners of the buildings “but they are avoiding to implement the orders of the SBCA”. The meeting mulled over disconnecting the utility connections of such buildings and decided that all the relevant deputy commissioners would hold meetings with officials of the utility organisation to implement the decision.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Commissioner South Irshad Ali, all additional deputy directors of the SBCA, senior officials of the District Municipal Corporations (DMCs), the Cantonment Boards and the Karachi Development Authority (KDA).

The meeting also discussed the issue of marriage halls established on residential plots. It was decided in the meeting to take steps for their closing timings. The meeting decided that an action would be taken jointly by the district administration and the SBCA along with other relevant departments if marriage halls were found violating laws.

The deputy commissioners of all districts briefed the commissioner about the issue of hazardous buildings as well as the marriage halls established on residential plots in their respective districts. Korangi additional deputy commissioner Arshad Waris informed the commissioner about the situation of the marriage halls being run in Korangi.

He told the meeting how 45 marriage halls had been established illegally on residential plots. The meeting decided that all such marriage halls would be sealed. In this regard, the officials were asked to take action with close coordination.