Gulbahar residents await SBCA action against ‘illegal’ constructions

Residents of Gulbahar who have written to the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to stop the construction of a four-storey building on a 40-square-yard plot in the Waheedabad neighbourhood are still waiting for the authorities to take action.

According to the complainants, illegal multi-storey buildings have been mushrooming in the area and posing a threat to the hundreds of thousands of people who live there.

Earlier, 27 people were killed and two dozen others injured as a five-storey building in the locality had collapsed, reminding the authorities about the consequences of illegal constructions being carried out allegedly in collusion with SBCA officials.

The complaints have informed the SBCA that an illegal structure is being erected on plot No. D-20 in the E-100 area of Waheedabad Eidgah Maidan in Gulbahar No. 2. They have claimed that substandard material is being used in the construction of the building.

The residents said that a corrupt building inspector of the area was patronising the builder mafia. They also said they had sent applications to the SBCA, the Karachi Municipal Corporation’s Anti-Encroachment Cell, the provincial ombudsman and other authorities, but were yet to receive a response. They appealed to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to take immediate notice of the malpractice and save their neighbourhood from yet another illegal structure.