Housing horrors

This refers to the editorial ‘Nasla demolition’ (November 26). The editorial discusses a pressing issue. Unsuspecting buyers invest their life savings, or borrow huge sums of money to purchase plots – only to suffer. While the Supreme Court has ordered the builder to reimburse the owners of flats, how will this be done? At least 80 percent of the amount must have been spent in construction. Before a building is raised, a number of NOCs, signed by relevant officials, are obtained. If there are some loopholes in this process, the people concerned should be held accountable. Why should buyers suffer? As the editorial points out, if all the illegal construction in Karachi is brought down, nothing will be left. The best solution is to constitute a larger bench to review all such cases and regularise all completed projects by imposing heavy fines on all officers who approved the plans.

Mukhtar Ahmed

Karachi