The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday turned down a request by a Gulberg Town resident to halt the ongoing anti-encroachment operation along Karachi’s GujjarNullah. A two-judge bench of the high court directed the petitioner to satisfy it as to maintainability of his petition and rejected his plea to grant a stay order against the operation until this case is decided. The petitioner stated before the bench that he has been residing in Gulberg Town’s Tayyababad area for the past 50 years. He added he acquired the plot his house is built on from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) on lease as per the laws. He said the operation was launched three days back to clear all illegal dwellings along GujjarNullah with residents being asked through mosque loudspeakers to vacate illegally built houses. The petitioner pleaded with the high court to restrain the KMC from knocking down leased houses. A survey conducted by Sindh Irrigation Department and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) few years ago pointed out thousands of built houses on GujjarNullah, stretched over a distance of 13.5 kilometers. According to the survey, 27 key water drains are occupied by the illegal encroachments with five to 80 percent occupation of the space, which are part of the natural drainage of the rainwater.
