Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said Wednesday that encroachments on the route of the Karachi Circular Railway since 2013 will be bulldozed, and those were settled there before that year compensated, as a measure to make way for the project to be launched for the KCR's revival late this year. He was presiding over a meeting at the Chief Minister's House to discuss progress in the ongoing work on the project.
About 43.1 kilometers of the KCR's route is under encroachment, and more encroachments have appeared, he was informed. The Commissioner of Karachi, Aijaz Ali Khan, said that according to a survey conducted by Pakistan Railways 4,950 illegally built houses and shops have appeared on the KCR's route. In District South, there are 420 houses. In District East, there are 448 katcha and 1,700 pacca houses, and 369 katcha shops. In District Central, there are 262 katcha and 420 pacca houses and 47 katcha and four pacca shops. In District West 1,002 illegal structures have been identified during a survey, including 20 katcha houses and 773 pacca houses, and 30 katcha and 179 pacca shops.
The commissioner said that in District South the railways have not surveyed some portions where around 300 structures have appeared. The chief minister said that the survey conducted by JAICA in 2013 showed that there were about 4,600 houses and shops on the KCR's route. He said that the houses and shops constructed until 2013 will be given compensation on humanitarian grounds but the encroachments appearing during and after 2013 will be bulldozed after notices are served on the occupants.
The chief minister asked the transport minister to start serving notices to people living there illegally and bulldoze their houses, once the houses and shops are bulldozed he should start fixing fences to protect the KCR route. He will perform the KCR project's groundbreaking ceremony in September or October in which CPEC high officials will be invited. That will be the beginning of modern Karachi, he said.
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