The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation marked on Saturday encroachments along the Mehmoodabad and Manzoor Colony nullahs in Karachi. The KMC has started widening the stormwater drains on the orders of the Supreme Court, according to a KMC spokesperson. It marked houses, shops and markets constructed illegally on both sides of the drains. The spokesperson requested the occupants to vacate these places to avoid any losses.These illegal structures were being removed according to the designs prepared by a team of the NED University. The stormwater drains required widening to save the city from urban floods during the monsoon rains. Their width varied at different places, while the existing level of depth was too much at some spots and hardly a few feet at the others. Karachi suffered worst losses due to torrential monsoon rains last year. Many areas were inundated with no power supply for days. It was then that the authorities decided to fix the stormwater drains in the megapolis.As many as 5,782 houses illegally built on the Gujjar Nullah, which had caused flooding in surrounding areas during the recent torrential rains in the city, have been surveyed so far by the District Central administration. District Central Deputy Commissioner Bux Dharejo said this while speaking to media.He said the residents of such houses would be provided alternative residences before carrying out their demolition. Meanwhile, soft encroachments, such as makeshift shops and cow dens, have been removed from the nullah. Dharejo explained that the original 210-foot width of the Gujjar Nullah would be restored. As for the demolition of houses and construction of roads on both sides of the drain, he said it was being planned and the Sindh government would take a decision in this regard. The survey would take a week to complete because the administration is collecting data of all the encroachments, including houses and commercial units, built on the storm water drain. The survey, as of now, is being conducted on three strips: from Nala Stop to Cafe Piyala, to the Ziauddin Hospital and to Lyari.
