KARACHI: Civil rights campaigners and the people displaced due to the anti-encroachment operations along the Gujjar and Orangi Nullahs have urged the provincial government that they be provided with cash in lieu of land as compensation for their houses razed in the operation.

At a meeting of the affected persons, organised by the Sindh Bachao Tehreek (SBT) — a movement for the rights of the people affected by demolition drives — the participants discussed at length the issues of the displaced people as well as proposals for their rehabilitation.

A press release issued by the SBT on Sunday said the purpose of the meeting was to elicit opinions of the people affected by demolition drives about the resettlement and rehabilitation plan offered by the Supreme Court.

According to the statement, 25 affectees of Gujjar and Orangi Nullahs, as well as urban planning experts and human rights activists were invited where, among others, Dr Nausheen Anwar of Karachi Urban Lab and Sindh Human Rights Commission chairperson Iqbar Detho expressed their opinions.

Sindh Bachao Tehreek estimates compensation will come to Rs5.5m for each demolished house

The SBT said that on Aug 17, 2023 the apex court had offered two options to displaced people. First was the market value of the land from where 6,932 were dispossessed and cost of construction according to the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC). The second was the offer of 80 square-yard plots in Malir, with the cost of construction as estimated by the PEC.

It said that in consultations with experts of real estate and urban issues, it was estimated that the cost of the land from where the affectees’ houses were demolished, combined with the cost of construction, came to around Rs5.5 million for each demolished house and majority of the affectees opted for this choice, that is, the first option.

However, the provincial government has not disclosed the amount of monetary compensation for the first option officially.

The participants of the meeting said that the Lyari Expressway resettlement project was replete with problems and that they did not want to be embroiled in legal disputes just to receive compensation.

The affected people complained that the process of rental cheques had taken three whole years with a high number of people still not provided with the said cheques. They said that most of them had to run pillar to post, unsuccessfully, to beg for their rights.

The meeting was informed that many affected people had died of heart attacks due to the stress of losing their homes and many suffered wrongful deaths in accidents as they slipped into the nullahs.

The SBT said that even though these were attributable to state negligence in demolitions, none of these people received compensation.

About the first option given by the apex court, the affected persons said that if the sum for compensation would be shared, they could make an informed decision and that cash would allow them to divide amongst siblings and their families living in the same structure whereas with plots, there could be disagreements between them if they were allotted just one.

For the second option, they said that it raised several concerns regarding allotment of 80 sq-yards plot in Taiser Town.

They said that Taiser Town was completely undeveloped at the moment and lacked basic amenities such as gas, electricity, water, education and health facilities.

Moreover, they said that the price of land in Orangi and Gujjar Nullah was more than the price of land in Taiser Town which was situated in the outskirts of the city.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2024