The charge of the Karachi municipal commissioner has been transferred the night before a major anti-encroachment operation is scheduled to begin in the city. Syed Salahuddin Ahmed, the senior director of municipal services at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, has been given the post of municipal commissioner, replacing Afzal Zaidi, who was holding the additional charge. Zaidi is the project director of the Competitive and Livable City of Karachi. Zaidi was supervising the clearing of encroachments around the Mehmoodabad Nullah. The KMC will be razing 850 illegal houses in a major operation to clear land on both sides of one of Karachi’s main stormwater drains, the Mehmoodabad Nullah, on Thursday. Violence is expected so it has enlisted the help of the police and Rangers. The work will be undertaken by the National Disaster Management Authority, the East district administration and KMC from the Manzoor Colony Fire Brigade Station to Korangi Road. It was planned at the start of last week but put off till the Pakistan Super League ends. A notification for Zaidi’s transfer and Ahmed’s appointment was issued by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah.
