Zubair Yaqoob
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sindh Assembly has requested a comprehensive record of slum settlements (katchi abadis) across the province. The PAC has directed the relevant department to provide, within ten days, details of regularized settlements, ownership certificates issued to residents, and the rates applied for plot regularization. The PAC meeting, chaired by Nisar Khuhro, was held in the assembly’s committee room on Thursday, with Secretary of Human Settlement Shariq Ahmed, Director Finance Bilal Sheikh, the Sindh Audit Director General, and other officials in attendance. The meeting reviewed audit reports from 2018 to 2021, revealing that the Human Settlement Department had yet to submit records for Rs 131.901 million issued under grants and differential bills. The PAC chairman granted a ten-day deadline for submitting the missing records. During the session, Khuhro inquired about the total number of informal settlements in Sindh and those already regularized. Secretary Shariq Ahmed reported that Sindh has approximately 1,400 slum settlements, of which 582 are in Karachi. Furthermore, Khuhro questioned officials about the issuance of ownership certificates and the rate applied for regularizing plots in these settlements. Director Finance Bilal Sheikh explained that a regularization fee of 250 rupees per square yard is applied to 120-square-yard plots in Karachi, although rates vary across regions. He noted that the process has been delayed since 2021 due to residents’ inability to pay the fee. The chairman raised concerns over the affordability issue, questioning how residents could struggle to pay a 250-rupee per square yard rate when plots are valued in the millions. Khuhro emphasized the need to regularize all informal settlements and villages across Sindh to provide residents with ownership rights and called for controlling the expansion of new informal settlements.
The PAC has directed the department to submit a complete record within ten days, detailing Sindh’s slum settlements, the status of ownership rights, and funds collected through regularization fees. The committee adjourned until the required records are submitted.
