KARACHI, Nov 18: More than 70 families in Sector 11½ of Orangi Town have been left homeless as the town administration has bulldozed their houses declaring them encroachments on the cottage industrial zone's land but re-allotted the space to new applicants for residential purposes.

It emerged during a visit to the area and talk with the affected families that the town administration removed houses situated in Mansoor Nagar along the Orangi Cottage Industrial Zone last year on the basis of the argument that the residential area lay under the industrial zone and was being illegally used for residential purposes.

However, after more than a year, when the city government has already initiated an infrastructure development project and transferred possession documents to the allottees of the industrial zone, pieces of land in Mansoor Nagar, which were evacuated by the authorities to integrate the land with the industrial zone, seem to have become a major source of business for a group in the administration and the land mafia.

"Actually the areas bulldozed by the town administration last year had never been part of the Orangi Cottage Industrial Zone," said Abdul Rahman Sheikh, who has lived in the area for the last more than 20 years. "It was purely for the purpose of accommodating migrants from East Pakistan after it became Bangladesh, but unfortunately no one noticed such injustice and it went unheeded."

But now, he said, the re-allotment of the land in Mansoor Nagar to the new applicants for residential purposes had exposed the real motive behind last year's move and prompted the inhabitants of the area to raise their voice for their rights.

In July, the city government gave possession documents to allottees of the Orangi Town Cottage Industrial Zone, a long-awaited move promised by successive governments. Spread over 262 acres, the Orangi Town Cottage Industrial Zone project was launched in 1994-95 and plots were allotted to the applicants through balloting. The scheme was originally divided into nine blocks with a total number of 4,118 plots, including 3,949 plots of 200 square yards each, 140 commercial and 29 amenities plots.

A 60-foot-wide road, between Mansoor Nagar and the Orangi Cottage Industrial Zone, divides the two sides, but the town administration insisted last year that the area would also be made a part of the project. However, area residents say no such plan is made by the city government, which allowed officials in the administration to manipulate.

"I and my five children were dragged out of my home while my husband was out to work last year," said Farida Khatoon, who has been homeless for the last more than a year. "Officials, supported by the area police, told us that we were living on encroached land, but the same area is now being given to outsiders for housing."

She said that since it was not a city government move, there was a strong chance of manoeuvring by some town officials, who have tried to prevent every possible communication between the higher authorities and the affected families.

Similarly, Mohammad Younus, guardian of an 11-member family, was served with a notice in April 2007 to vacate the house as it was to be demolished for being built on an encroached piece of land.

"When we refused to comply with the orders and decided to take up the matter with the city nazim and the governor, the very next day heavy machinery from the town administration backed by area police entered the area and razed some 70 to 80 houses," he added.

Though the town administration avoided commenting on the situation, area people have decided to take up the matter at a higher level and have appealed to the authorities concerned to intervene.

"On behalf of the affected families, we have approached the city nazim and the Sindh governor with a request to look into the matter," said Salim Shahid, general secretary of the Awami Welfare Association, an area organisation.

He said since most of the families affected by the town's move belonged to the poor and lower-middle classes, unable to afford rented houses, a majority of them has been living in makeshift houses or huts for the last more than a year.