KARACHI: People facing displacement due to demolition of their houses along the city’s major nullahs during an ongoing anti-encroachment drive on Friday demanded that they be compensated as per their lost land and its construction cost.

The affectees, under the umbrella of the Karachi Bachao Tehreek, held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club and asked the Sindh government to include the affectees of Gujjar Nullah, Orangi Nullah, Haji Lemu Goth, Sahafi Colony, Aladdin Park and the Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) demolitions in a recently announced commission.

They ask why 30-foot-wide roads are needed along Gujjar and Orangi nullahs when road constructed along Mehmoodabad drain is 12 feet wide

When the Supreme Court ordered the Sindh government to remove encroachments from storm-water drains, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), on orders of Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Shah, began widening the canals as well as to free up space on either sides of the drains to build 30-foot-wide roads — a plan that is not a part of any Karachi master plan, they claimed.

It was explained that not even a single house demolished in the current so-called “anti-encroachment drive” on Gujjar and Orangi nullahs was located on the drain. In fact, these demolitions were carried out to carve out space for the construction of the 30-foot-wide roads.

They said four months after they lost their homes, Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had now expressed his sympathies with the victims of the demolition drives, but it was important to question how the Sindh government was putting the demolitions solely in the account of the Supreme Court.

“Why did Bilawal not ask the Sindh government about how KMC officials stood in court and wrongfully declared the leases to be illegal? Wasn’t it the same KMC officials who granted these leases in the first place,” asked one affectee.

Double standards on width of roads

He said that the biggest question here was if the width of the road along the Mehmoodabad nullah, which falls in the constituency of Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani, can be limited to 12 feet, how can the same not be done with roads being built along the Orangi and Gujjar nullahs?

It was also pointed out that all renowned urban planners, from Arif Hasan to Dr Nausheen H. Anwar, have categorically stated that these roads had never been a part of any Karachi master plan and that they were of no significant benefit to anyone.

Limiting the width of these roads to 10 feet and not expanding the width of the drain could have saved all the houses that were demolished. This means there is ample land for the government to resettle the affectees, and on the same land they were displaced from.

Despite all of this, the Karachi Bachao Tehreek wished to explain the on-ground situation to Mr Bhutto-Zardari and the Sindh government without doubting their intentions so that they can accept their legitimate demands.

It was said that before making a proposal, the Sindh government should contact the victims and include them in the commission that has been announced now.

“We believe that only after complete consultation with the victims can a plan be developed that can truly alleviate the problems of the nearly one million people, including 21,000 children, who have been brutally and needlessly displaced,” said another victim.

It was also demanded that at the same time, the victims of Haji Lemu Goth, Sahafi Colony, Aladdin Park and KCR demolitions also be included in this commission, and they be provided alternative compensation according to their respective losses.

The affectees also reminded that the United Nations issued a highly important statement in light of the grievances highlighted by the Karachi Bachao Tehreek regarding informing the government that the demolitions were giving birth to a colossal humanitarian tragedy, asking for the demolitions to be immediately stopped.

‘KMC is harassing all affectees’

However, it is unfortunate that this process is far from over. Even today, the KMC with the help of its staff and law enforcement personnel is continuing to violate the peoples’ privacy and the sanctity of their homes. It is harassing all affectees, including women and children, and depriving them of their homes as if they were second-class citizens.

“While we do not want any person to meet this fate, including the residents of Nasla Tower on Sharea Faisal, it is pertinent to highlight the vast difference in the implementation of the Supreme Court’s order in working-class neighbourhoods and on a middle-income residential project such as Nasla Tower. Since the project involves big builders the government appears to not be pressing for its demolition,” said an affectee.

“Moreover, political parties are also silently reaching there to stand with the affectees,” he added.

The affectees said that if the demolition of the houses of the rich can be stalled in the absence of alternative housing for them, then demolitions of working-class population’s homes should also be immediately stopped.

They also said that according to the decision of the Supreme Court, the government is obliged to provide lease replacement to all the demolished houses without any discrimination. The Sindh government must not discriminate in this regard. Therefore, if an affectee has lost a 200 square yard house then they must be allotted a plot measuring the same.

They said that there are huge discrepancies in the survey carried out by the KMC and the IDs issued in accordance with this survey, as no distinction was made between a four-storey house and a single-storey house. Multiple families living in one house have been counted as one family. They said that corruption is rife in distribution of cheques and financial scams are becoming commonplace. And despite the demolition of over half of the houses, people have not even received a cheque for Rs15,000 in rent.

“Hence, we strongly demand that houses should not be demolished till a detailed survey is conducted by the Technical Training Resource Centre for the victims. Furthermore, the houses that have been demolished should be given at least Rs30,000 per family per month. Rs720,000 should be paid for two years rent as soon as possible, or their houses should be reconstructed either at the same place or at a nearby place and they be given the opportunity to live a dignified life,” they said in their charter of demands.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2021