Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed all administrative, local bodies, development authorities, and the police to devise a comprehensive plan to eliminate encroachments from footpaths, service roads, green belts, walkways, and streets. This initiative aims to restore the beauty and integrity of Karachi. “We, as the Sindh government, are empowering local bodies to make this city more livable. However, encroachments under the watch of concerned authorities undermine all our efforts,” Shah stated during a meeting on Friday to address encroachment issues. The Chief Minister also ordered the removal of overhead cables and instructed that any road cutting be rebuilt within three months.
This effort is part of a broader strategy to enhance the city’s infrastructure and public spaces. Provincial Ministers Nasir Shah, SaeedGhani, Mayor Karachi MurtazaWahab, Chief Secretary AsifHyder Shah, PSCM Agha Wasif, Chairman P&D Najam Shah, Commissioner Karachi Hassan Naqvi, Adl IG Karachi Imran Yakoob, Secretary Local Govt Khalid Hyder Shah, Secretary Finance FayazJatoi, Secretary Transport AsadZamin, MD SSWMB Imtiaz Shah, DG SBCA RasheedSolangi, CEO Water Board Salahuddin, DG KDA all the deputy commissioners. Encroachments on walkways, green belts and Streets: The chief minister said that encroachments on footpaths, Green Belts, walkways and streets have defaced the city and caused serious issues in the flow of traffic even for the pedestrians but no authority was ready to remove them.
Murad Shah categorically said that no institution has the authority to allow encroachment on the Green belts, footpaths and walkways. “How, some private offices have installed their generators on the footpath under the nose of the concerned local body and the deputy commissioner,” he questioned. He directed all the administration, KMC, Town Municipal Corporations (TMCs), the police, and the development authorities to clarify their role and responsibilities. The local Govt Minister SaeedGhani and Mayor Karachi said that the local bodies had their anti-encroachment wings but were not as active as they should have.
The CM directed the KMC, TMCs, and administration to remove encroachments from the public spaces with the support of the police. “I would suggest you give appropriate time to the encroachers and then launch a vigorous operation,” he directed the concerned authorities. Removal of Debris: It was pointed out that debris and construction materials were left on the footbaths, service roads and even the main roads. The CM directed SBCA to get an undertaking from all the builders while permitting them that they would not use public spaces for dumping the construction material. Meanwhile, the administration would launch a drive against such government and private builders, impose heavy fines against them and seize their material. Road Cutting:
The CM said that different authorities such as KMC, KDA, TMCs and others were granting road-cutting permission and collecting charges but have failed to reconstruct the roads. The CM directed the chief secretary to get the charges for road cutting revised and evolve a mechanism to reconstruct the dug-up road within three months. He said that there must be a certification procedure. Illegal charged parking: The meeting observed that various illegally charged parking have been developed on the roads. This illegal parking is causing serious traffic issues. The CM directed the local government and other concerned authorities to notify the parking officially in consultation with the traffic police and remove all the unauthorized. The participants told the CM that most of the shopping plazas have their parking areas, but they have converted them into godowns and have rented them out. Murad Ali Shah directed the SBCA to share the list of the shopping plazas having parking areas with the Commissioner Karachi. The Commissioner through his DCs and SSPS would launch operations against them and restore their parking areas. The CM constituted a traffic management under the Commissioner to resolve illegal parking issues. Billboards:
The meeting was told that the mapping of the city for Billboards would be made so that they could only be installed at the designated site as per approved size. He directed the KMC to file his proposals for billboards. He added that the billboards installed on the rooftops were hazardous. Improvement of Services: The CM said that there was a general impression and cries about the services to citizens such as the issuance of birth/death/heirship certificates. He added that he wanted to strengthen the certification system by the KMC, Towns, union councils and even DC offices.
