Both banks of Gujjar Nullah cleared of all soft encroachments

After clearing the massive Gujjar Nullah in the city’s District Central of all soft encroachments, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) ended the first phase of its major operation on Saturday. Starting Monday (tomorrow), the municipal body is likely to start demolishing houses and commercial units.

Anti-Encroachment Senior Director Bashir Siddiqui said that the KMC had cleared a four-kilometre section of the storm water drain from Khamosh Colony to Haji Mureed Goth, adding that soft encroachments such as iron grills, kiosks, tea shops, stalls, pushcarts, cattle farms, wooden warehouses and shanties were removed.

He said that 100 feet of the area occupied by soft encroachments was cleared, adding that the KMC then started levelling the land so that its heavy machinery could enter the locality for the removal of hard encroachments.

“As much as 13 kilometres of the area was cleared of 100 feet of encroachments,” he said, adding that by Monday or Tuesday, they would start removing hard encroachments.

The KMC’s anti-encroachment, land and Katchi Abadis departments, along with the Central District Municipal Corporation’s administration monitored the anti-encroachment operation on Saturday to ascertain the way forward for the operation to remove hard encroachments.

Around 4,000 houses and commercial units will be demolished to widen the storm water drain in accordance with the design provided by a team of NED University experts.

SIUT

Siddiqui said that in District South, the KMC cleared encroachments surrounding the Sindh Institute of Urology & Transplantation (SIUT) on Saturday, adding that iron grills, iron rods and illegally installed shopfront shades were removed in the operation.

He said that tables and chairs of different restaurants and tea shops were seized, along with several kiosks and pushcarts, adding that the operation was supervised by District South Director Imran Siddiqui.