The Sindh government has constituted a working committee for rehabilitation and resettlement of the families displaced in anti-encroachment operations on stormwater drains in Karachi.
The working committee is headed by Karachi Commissioner Navid Ahmed Shaikh. It will also have deputy commissioners, KMC municipal commissioner, one senior officer each from the KDA, MDA and LDA and DMCs, a technical expert and two members of the civil society.
The committee would prepare a working paper, comprising recommendations and suggestions from all members.
It would finalise the recommendations in four weeks after feedback from all members.
The working committee would thoroughly examine the cases and recommend resettlement and rehabilitation of the affected families.
The working committee has formed two review committees. The Review Committee-I will be headed by Amber Alibhai, the general secretary of Shehri-Citizens for a Better Environment.
The Review Committee-II will be led by KMC Municipal Commissioner Afzal Zaidi.The Review Committee-I will point out the affected areas.
It will collect details of affected families transparently, preserve and compile the record with the help of technical experts, and hand it over to the government.
The Review Committee-II will finalise its recommendations after receiving report from Review Committee-I and members of the Board of Revenue and other land owing agencies.
After finalising its recommendations, it will submit a report to the Karachi commissioner.
The resettlement committee will act in the light of reports of the two review committees. However, Shehri-CBE General Secretary Amber Alibhai told media that she has not yet decided to become a part of the review committee.
The Shehri-CBE has a board and its members will make a final decision in this regard, she said.
She said that officials approached Shehri-CBE and asked it to be a part of a key meeting at the Karachi Commissioner House about anti-encroachment operations on Karachi drains.
“I have forwarded the government proposal to the Shehri-CBE board for a final decision,” Alibhai said.
“We don’t get involved in something that is not under our command,” she told media. “We will have to see that we are not used to the advantage of someone else.”
