Residents Rendered Homeless by Fire, Suffer Huge Financial Losses

Merchant Centre, Clifton

Residents rendered homeless by fire, suffer huge financial losses

Residents on the first and second floor apartments in Merchant Centre at Schon Circle were among the worst sufferers when the building came under attack following Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson, Benazir Bhutto’s assassination on December 27. An anonymous group of five people escaped after throwing three bombshells at the building – one was targeted at a bank on the mezzanine of the building, while the other two were thrown at shops on the ground floor.

While residents in the building were not actually targeted, they did however, become the actual victims of the attack when none out of 12 apartments on the first and the second floor of the building burned down completely. Apart from being rendered homeless for an indefinite period, residents of this gutted property have also been forced to come to terms with huge financial losses all of a sudden.

The building has collectively suffered a monetary setback of at least four million rupees, the apartments’ general-secretary, Quaid Johar, told The News. “The repair of electrical wiring alone would take around Rs 600,000 to Rs 700,000,” he said.

In addition to the financial loss, residents also claim to have been traumatized by the incident. “I was sleeping when I heard a bang outside. Before I actually realize what was going on, two more bangs followed,” said Seema Rahim, a resident of the second floor of the building. She has been staying with relatives ever since, and came to see her house on Monday after a lapse of four days. “After the three blasts, the guard came running upstairs and told us that fire had engulfed the building and that we should evacuate the premises immediately,” Rahim said.

Her apartment has suffered less damage compared to the others around hers. The only visible problems are cracks that have appeared on the outer wall. She said however, that she would still prefer staying with relatives until things calmed down. The apartment next door to Rahim’s has been damaged badly, while those on the first floor have been completely gutted. “I stepped out of my apartment as soon as the guard told everyone to evacuate, but it was all dark outside and heavy smoke in the stairways made movement very difficult,” Rahim said. She was carrying her cat throughout the ordeal. Amidst the chaos, Rahim slipped and fell down the staircase and bruised her knees and elbows. “Everyone was downstairs within a few minutes, however, just to watch their house on fire,” she said.

The residents first called the City District Government Karachi’s (CDGK) fire service at 16, but they were told that their area (Clifton Block 9) fell under the jurisdiction of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA). The latter was then contacted, and two fire tenders reached the spot within 40 to 45 minutes. The fire tenders, however, were not very large, and succeeded only in denting the spirit of the fire without putting it out.

As water in the fire tenders started running out, two more fire tenders were called in. By the time they reached the spot, the fire was up and roaring again. “We kept calling the CDGK and asked them to help us because the DHA does not have snorkels and their fire tenders are too small. Our requests fell on deaf ears, however,” Johar said.

Finally at around 08:00 a.m. in the morning a DHA official reached the site, with eight fire tenders in tow. These kept refilling the two already at work, and the fire was controlled by afternoon. The clothes and accessories lying on the road in large amount indicate that the residents tried to save their belongings by throwing them out of the balconies.

Shops and the bank that had been targeted were all badly damaged. The branch manager said that everything had completely burnt down, and worried customers have been visiting them constantly. An account holder, Dr Shaheena, heaved a sigh of relief when she was told that the fire had not affected her account in any way and that she could easily conduct transactions through other branches of the bank. Although they are not very hopeful of the outcome, but the residents intend to appeal for the compensation of the financial loss they have incurred as a result of this incident.

(By Aisha Masood, The News-14, 02/01/2008)

Keamari katchi abadis yet to be regularised

KARACHI, Jan 4: Around 70 per cent of the Keamari Town population lives in abject poverty and most of its old localities are yet to be regularised, a survey of the town shows.

The town, carved out from the defunct district west, comprises coastal and rural areas mainly comprising katchi abadis.

Some of the oldest localities yet to be regularised are Mohammadi Colony, Mauripur, Grex, Muwach Goth and Raees Goth whereas a large number of old localities are stretched all along the Hawkesbay road. Quite a few of these localities have water, power, gas, sewerage and municipal services available to their poor residents.

Mohammadi Colony, located in the periphery of the Karachi Fish Harbour on the main Mauripur Road, has existed for more than 30 years and yet it is without a proper water and drainage system.

Residents of the colony have long been demanding basic amenities to be provided to them, saying that the absence of a proper sewerage system and municipal service, filth, dirt and garbage remain unattended, creating dangerously unhygienic conditions in and around the colony.

Heaps of garbage and filth in the streets have created stinking atmosphere making living in the locality unbearable.

Samiul Haq, a school teacher who lives in the colony, recalled that labourers and fishermen had raised the structures with their hard-earned money to provide shelter to their families but the people in power never extended any help in facilitating their life. Even the basic amenities had not been provided to the colony, he added, and regretted that the authorities concerned were still reluctant to regularise the katchi abadi and had always been keeping them on false promises.

The issues of clean water, health and education have always remained pressing problems for the Keamari Town population. Certain plans to provide basic amenities and municipal services to many of the old localities did not materialise because of a dispute on their jurisdiction between the KPT and other civic agencies. Resultantly, the problems being faced by their residents remained unresolved and continued to multiply.

Land disputes in the coastal and rural areas of the town are also on the rise in the absence of a clear-cut policy and demarcation of the plots under occupation of the villagers.

(Dawn-18, 05/01/2008)

False NOC for private function in the hockey ground: Shehri-CBE

No park or amenity plot can be used for private functions, as is writ in the bylaws of our constitution, still there are quite a few, who do not abide by the laws and arrange private functions at public places.

Shehri—Citizens for Better Environment (CBE) has highlighted such violation of law that occurred recently at a hockey ground located on Khalid Bin Waleed Road. The ground was made available for a private function on December 26. Since the ground is situated in a purely residential area of Union Council (UC) 7, Jamshed Town, and is used by a large number of people for walking and sports activities daily, it caused great hardship to the residents as well.

Although in a letter written to the Town Nazim, Javed Ahmed two days before the function, General Secretary of Shehri, Amber Alibhai had complained about this violation reminding him that private functions in public parks are against the orders of the superior courts and the Nazim’s office as well but the function was held in the ground as per schedule.

UC Nazim, Zahid Saeed told The News that he too had requested the town nazim to cancel the permission two days before the event. He referred to a letter (dated July 12, 2006) from Town Municipal Administration (TMA), with directions to the UC to ensure that no such permission will be issued as per the orders of superior courts and the provincial government. In response to that request and the Shehri’s letter, town nazim issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) on the very day of the event allowing the function to be held, said Saeed.

“The NOC is false and an open violation of law,” says the Shehri general secretary, also referring to the Article 52-A of KDA Order 5 of 1957 (as after its amendment by Act XXIII of 1994). The subsection (2) in the said article reads as: “(2) no amenity plot reserved for the purpose mentioned in clause (1) shall be converted to or utilised for any other purpose.”

‘Is it compassion or corruption?’ Shehri has put a question to the concerned authorities. While pursuing the matter, they have written another letter to the town nazim holding him directly responsible for the illegal action. “We regret that the nazim did not take action lawfully. Parks are public spaces and this does not do well for the open spaces of the town,” maintained general secretary, Shehri.

On June 16, 1993, the then Commissioner Karachi, Mohammad Javed Ashraf Hussain wrote to the Administrator KMC and the DG KDA reminding them that the Sindh High Court (SHC) has restrained KMC and KDA from violating the sanctity of parks and public amenity spaces, highlights Shehri in its second letter to the town nazim.

The letter also points out that on November 23, 1993 the then Deputy Secretary Coordination of Services and General Administration Department, Implementation Wing, Government of Sindh, Lal Din Kashmiri had circulated a directive to the Administrator, KMC and the DG, KDA informing them that there was “a ban on use of public parks and gardens falling within the administrative control of KMC and KDA for marriages and private functions.” He had said that any defiance will be dealt severely.

Shehri claims that despite the law in place since 1993, notification and directives of your own department, an officer of the rank of Town Officer, Municipal Regulation, Khalid Waqar gave a written permission to President Musharraf of Plot No 146-L, Block 2, PECHS to hold a marriage function of his relatives residing in Nazimabad in the same hockey ground. The electricity was stolen through a kunda (illegal) connection, from the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) poles in front of 149-J and 149-L while the parking was done inside and around the green park in the 40-feet-wide lane.

As a consequence of private functions in the parks and playgrounds, the place usually becomes unusable for public for three days: prior to, the day off and the day after the event. People destroy the parks, damage the ground, trees, grass and walking paths. Furthermore, the streets are clogged with parking and undesirable elements take advantage and commit crimes in the area.

The said hockey ground is in the jurisdiction of Ferozabad police station, which the Shehri general secretary has emphasised, has the highest number of car theft, phone snatching and other street crimes. The concerned citizens demand a probe in this open violation of law, however, despite several attempts, the town nazim, who issued that NOC was not available for comments.

(By Aisha Masood, The News-20, 05/01/2008)

Ex-KBCA chief indicted in corruption case

KARACHI, Jan 5: The Special Anti-Corruption Judge, Karachi, Syed Gul Munir Shah, on Saturday indicted a former chief of the Karachi Building Control Authority and other KBCA officials in a corruption case.

The accused, Brig (retd) A.S. Nasir, former chief controller of the KBCA; Akhlaq Ahmed, ex-senior building controller; Mumtaz Haider, ex-deputy building controller; Ali Zafar Qadri, ex-senior building controller; Mohammad Faheem, ex-deputy controller; Jafar Imam, ex-assistant deputy controller; Mohiuddin Sharif and Hawa Bahi pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.

The other accused in the case are Gul Mohammad Khanani, owner of Gul Plaza; Syed Mehmood Ali, senior town building control officer; Abdul Rehman Ansari, district controller of buildings, and Ahsan, assistant controller of buildings, have already been indicted in the case. They had also pleaded not guilty and opted to face the charges.

The judge fixed Feb 9 as the next date of hearing and would summon all prosecution witnesses to appear in court to record their statements in the case on the next hearing.

They were charged under the Pakistan Penal Code’s Sections 161 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act), 162 (taking gratification, in order, by corrupt or illegal means, to influence public servant), 163 (taking gratification for exercise of personal influence with public servant), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant or by banker, merchant or agent), 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471/34 (using as genuine a forged document) read with Section 5(2) of the Provision of Corruption Act, 1947. The charge related to plot PR-I/32, Preedy Quarters, now a big centre of imported items.

The former KBCA chief and four officials of the division concerned were charged with their complicity with the owner in allowing him to use an area reserved for car parking to build shops.

According to the prosecution, the approval that they had given was contrary to the provision of Section 5-C of the Sindh Regularization Control Ordinance, 2002.

They were charged with processing and approving the building plan by employing corrupt means and abusing their position as public servants by illegally favouring the owner allegedly for millions of rupees.

On Sept 22, the court rejected the application of former KBCA chief Brig (Retd) A.S. Nasir for the cancellation of a corruption case against him. The application was moved on June 16, 2007. The judge, after hearing the arguments from both the defence and state counsel, observed that the application was not maintainable.

The accused had filed another such application under Section 249-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (power of magistrate to acquit accused at any stage), which was already rejected on March 17, 2007.

The court observed that the references given in the application were irrelevant and meant only to prolong the matter. It was stated that the application was moved under wrong provisions of the law and, therefore, was rejected.

(By Ishaq Tanoli, Dawn-17, 06/01/2008)

Defaulting societies may lose their lands

KARACHI, Jan 6: The city government has decided to confiscate the lands allotted to cooperative housing societies which have not been developed for a long time. The societies which have failed to start development of infrastructure and houses on the lands allotted to them long ago would be given a final opportunity and if they did not avail the chance, they would have to lose the land.

The decision has been taken by City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal, who has asked all housing societies to start development work on their lands or face the cancellation of the allotment.

He said the city government would provide all the required utilities to the lands if the societies started construction work, saying that development of the lands and construction of houses would benefit their members and help cope with the growing problem of housing in the city.

Mr Kamal pointed out that in Scheme-33, a number of pieces of land had been retrieved from the land-grabbers’ mafia and development of roads, installation of streetlights and laying of water and sewerage lines had been started. It was now up to the societies concerned to start construction of houses on these lands, he added.

He noted that dozens of housing societies had got lands allotted at cheaper rates by committing to provide better housing facilities to people but after a lapse of a long time, they did not start infrastructure development or construction work. Therefore, he added, the city government had decided to confiscate all such lands after issuing the defaulting societies a final notice.

Meanwhile, the city government has issued final show-cause notices to its 262 employees who appeared to be “ghost employees”. The employees belonged to the local government and education departments.

A spokesman for the CDGK said on Sunday that the action had been taken on the order of the city nazim.

He said that EDOs had also warned officers and other employees of their departments against negligence and directed them to discharge their duties efficiently or face dismissal.