Korangi Road chokes as residents protest against Mehmoodabad anti-encroachment drive

The residents of Mehmoodabad staged on Thursday morning a protest against the Karachi Municipal Corporation drive to clear land on both sides of one of Karachi’s main stormwater drains, the Mehmoodabad Nullah.

Men, women, and children held banners and chanted slogans against the KMC. The city government has planned to raze 850 houses in the area.

The police and other security officials have arrived at the site too.

District East Additional Deputy Commission Irfan Mirwani and Bashir Siddiqui, the senior director of anti-encroachment at KMC, are currently holding negotiations with the protesters. The demolition work has currently been stalled.

The protesters have refused to compromise.

The vehicles on the Korangi Road and the route leading from Qayyumabad to Defence are stuck in traffic because of the protest.

Mehmoodabad Nullah operation

The work to clear the nullah has been undertaken by the National Disaster Management Authority, the East district administration and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation from Manzoor Colony Fire Brigade Station to Korangi Road. It was planned at the start of last week but put off till the Pakistan Super League.  

KMC Metropolitan Commissioner Afzal Zaidi was initially supervising the work (he was transferred out on Wednesday night). The houses run on a 3.5km strip on both sides of the nullah. KMC did give leases for land but at a distance of 100, 150 and 200 feet from the nullah’s edges. Those houses are part of a notified KMC katchi abadi that was formed up until 1987. The problem is with houses that have been built right at the edge of the nullah.

“They are un-leased housing construction and people are living without any documented proof,” he said.

KMC plans to bring the nullah back to the shape as specified in the 1987 Master Plan. Usually when land is left over or vacant around a nullah, a “revised” or “part” plan can be made so people can build on it. But Zaidi clarified that this was not the case.

The encroachment removal will be done according to a 1987 KMC Katchi Abadis notification in which the actual status of the nullah has to be restored according to a Supreme Court order. The width of the Mehmoodabad drain varies by 100, 150 and 200 feet from Manzoor Colony Fire Brigade Station to Korangi Road. Its original width from Manzoor Colony Fire Brigade Station to Bismillah Bridge is 100 feet but this has shrunk to 10 to 12 feet right now.

Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/news/2020/11/karachi-mehmoodabad-nullah-anti-encroachment-drive/