Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority (SKAA) has demanded federal and provincial governments for releasing funds for carrying out infrastructure development for more than 12,000 katchi abadis.
Following policy of Punjab government for extending the cut of date of Punjab Katchi Abadi Authority (PKAA) from 1987 to 2006, Sindh government would take every possible measure to get the same privilege from Sindh government, Director General (DG) SKAA Kashif Gulzar told Business Recorder on Tuesday.
He said that the authority is working on self-finance basis and could not afford the expense of delayed leasing process due to which many katchi abadis of the province are yet to be regularised. "The provincial department has demanded for funds to increase pace of regularisation process," he added.
DG said the authority has demanded Rs 800 million from federal government to improve snail-paced process of regularisation. The funds would be utilised for modernising 12,000 katchi abadis of Sindh which falls under control of SKAA that were encroached before 1987 for regularisation.
He said that the required funds if released, are planned to be spent for improving infrastructure of these existing katchi abadis. "According to development plan of these katchi abadis, the authority has decided to provide all basic facilities including gas, electricity, roads and sanitation facilities in these katchi abadis," he said.
He said that the authority also collected development charges from owners of the land during leasing process for development and rehabilitation of other katchi abadis but the collected amount is not enough to spread road network in any other katchi abadi. The department would take every step for improving living standards of citizens residing in these katchi abadis," he said.
To a question, he said that the authority was established for regularising katchi abadis of urban areas of Sindh but as the authority is gradually achieving its set targets, the provincial government instead increasing its workload starts sharing its working by establishing another land regulatory authority.
He said that it is expected that following trend of Punjab government, Sindh government would also take steps to enhance SKAA's cut of date. He said that if government extends SKAA cut of date, there is a possibility that regularisation process of the katchi abadis in urban areas would be completed soon.
He ruled out that the establishment of Board of Revenue (BoR) as the third land regulatory authority in Sindh after Sindh Goth Abad Scheme, would create hurdles in working of the authority.
"SKAA is working for awarding ownership rights to the citizens living in katchi abadis that were encroached before 1987 while BoR are given rights to regularise katchi abadis of urban areas that were established after 1987 till date," he said. He said that the authority will try its best for convincing provincial government to extend its cut of date up to 2006 like PKAA to improve pace of regularisation process of katchi abadis in the province.