A senior official of the city administration on Wednesday said that the anti-encroachment operation on the Gujjar Nullah was difficult as only 2,000 houses had been marked in the survey conducted recently. Newly-appointed DMC Central administrator Mohammed Bux Dharejo said not even a single house had been demolished as of now and only soft encroachments over the rain drain were removed. “The operation was difficult as only 2,000 houses had been marked in the survey,” said Dharejo. Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Director Anti-Encroachment Bashir Siddiqi said the operation was being carried out on the orders of the Supreme Court. The survey and anti-encroachment operation on the drain have also sparked protests. In a recent protest, residents of the Rehmanabad area of the Federal B Area voiced their reservations against the anti-encroachment operation and blamed the land officials for the mess. Scores of Rehmanabad residents gathered at Gulberg’s Tahir Villa Chowrangi for their protest, which caused a massive gridlock as they blocked the flow of traffic for hours by placing tyres on the road. The protesters said they had been living in the surroundings of the Gujjar Nullah for years, but no government official had ever stopped them from constructing their homes. They accused government officials of taking bribes from them when they had been building their houses, saying that now the same government officials were claiming that the residents were living illegally.
