Despite the Supreme Court orders, revival of long-delayed Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) hangs in the balance, as the stakeholders appeared to be in disagreement over the modus operandi of anti-encroachment operation to retrieve the project land.
The anti-encroachment drive along the remaining 5-kilometer of track was suspended twice in a month, as the Railways officials allege that the Sindh government and the Commissioner's Office have expressed their reservations over erasing the residential settlements without providing alternative to the affected families.
"The operation has been halted on the directives of the Commissioner's Office. Around 10,000 to 12,000 families will be affected by the drive from Chanesar Goth to Kala Pull," the PR officials maintained. Railways has ample land in Jumma Goth, but the resettlement process such as construction of houses on mass scale would definitely take time and resources, they added.
The second phase of the anti-encroachment operation was aimed at recovering and making available the requisite area for the KCR route. Earlier, PR Karachi Division had announced to resume the drive along the Loop Line as well as Main Line on Monday (March 2) but it was suspended for indefinite period. PR Karachi Division had also postponed the drive to get the KCR land vacated on February 13.
PR Karachi Division also claimed to have issued notices to the occupants for vacating the occupied areas along the Loop Line extending from Karachi City Station to Drigh Road and on Main Line stretching out till Landhi from City Station.
"The drive will resume only if we get green signal from the commissioner, who is the authority," they said. Rehabilitation of KCR victims is joint responsibility of Railways and the provincial government. The court has given us a three-month deadline to resume this public sector commuter project which is a challenging task for all the stakeholders, the officials said.
"We already have cleared commercial constructions including marriage halls, shops, etc, which were illegally built along KCR track, but Railways can't remove the residential buildings single-handedly. We need cooperation from the stakeholders including Sindh government." Meanwhile Sattar Javed, spokesman for Commissioner Karachi alleged that Railways was not working as per guidelines issued by the Commissioner's Office. In a recent meeting, Javed said that Commissioner Iftekhar Shalwani had directed Railways officials to initiate a phase-wise work to revive KCR.
In the initial phase, Railways had to clear KCR tracks and make the stations functional, but they are bent on erasing the human settlements first. He alleged that the government has provided financial assistance to Railways to install gates at different locations in the city.
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