Leader of the opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh Tuesday demanded for a judicial inquiry into land grabbing in Sindh through counterfeit documentation.
Addressing a press conference along with MPA Saeed Afridi, senior PTI leader Muzaffar Shujrah, president PTI Youth Wing Moula Bux Soomro and others at Sindh Assembly building, Haleem said that 3.9 million acres of land were under illegal occupation in the province.
Over 2.8 million acres of forest land was encroached throughout Sindh while more than one hundred thousand acres of land were illegally occupied in the provincial capital Karachi alone in connivance with officers of revenue department and other relevant agencies of provincial government, he said.
Haleem alleged that five hundred thousand entries in revenue records were fake and deputy commissioners of different districts and members of Land Utilization were involved in land grabbing while many of them were under investigation as well.
He said that an entire district of Karachi was handed over to certain people as a reward of political maneuvering in Balochistan while revenue records were burnt to facilitate land grabbing that was at its peak.
State land along Northern Bypass was being encroached and an anti-encroachment force had become ‘encroachment police in Sindh, he added.
Haleem held PPP’s Sindh government responsible for illegal construction of Nasla Tower while arguing that in 2013, a no objection certificate was issued for the project after fake documentation through various provincial departments including Co-operative Societies Department, Sindh Building Control Authority, KMC and Local Government Department.
All the ministers and officers who headed the relevant departments during course of the time were responsible for the situation and they must be made accountable and brought to justice, Haleem demanded adding that compensation amount meant to be disbursed among the affected owners of the tower be recovered from the officers and public office holders.
He also expressed sympathy to people who purchased apartments in Nasla Tower as they had witnessed official NOCs and documents and were unaware that all those documents were fake and counterfeit.
Expressing concerns on inordinate delay in rehabilitation of Gujar Nullah affected population, Haleem said that Sindh government could not acquire land for resettling the poor affected people and illogically connecting the issue with receivables from Bahria Town.
Federal government had already issued Rs 35 billion to FWO and NDMA and work was under progress, he added.
He said that amount to be received from the Bahria Town must be utilized for welfare of the people of Sindh as the Chief Justice Pakistan had already passed remarks in the regard.
Haleem also condemned the project of construction of new chief minister house and suggested that Rs.1.2 billion rupees allocated for the purpose could be utilized to compensate the affected people of Gujjar Nala and Nasla Tower instead of building a luxury mansion from public exchequer.
“We thank Murad Ali Shah for construction of a new CM house for us before his departure from the old one,” the leader of the opposition sarcastically commented adding that Sindh did not need a new lavish building and the old CM house was sufficient to work.
He further said that PPP government and its ministers were focusing only on embezzlement of national resources.
Livestock department was running a project to provide buffaloes to poor farmers but the concerned minister on Monday distributed those buffaloes among wealthy persons instead of the deserving ones, he said.
He said that PPP has deviated from its ideology and running affairs of Sindh by force and coercion that was evident from the brutal use of police force to victimize political opponents.
He asked how a common man could be safe when false and fabricated cases were being registered against leader of the opposition.
