KMC launches operation to remove encroachments along Karachi’s drains

KARACHI: Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) anti-encroachment wing launched on Wednesday an operation to demolish illegally constructed houses, shops, and other structures along the city’s natural storm water drains.

According to KMC officials, the anti-encroachment drive has started at Café Piyala and Nala Stop. In the first phase, they said shops built along nullahs will be pulled down. More than 100 policemen have been taking part in the operation alongside the KMC staff amid fears of possible resistance from occupants of illegal structures.

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Seven thousand shops and nine thousand houses are illegally built at Nala Stop, the officials said.

The deputy commissioner of the city’s Central district said shades erected along nullahs will be knocked down in the first phase while illegal houses will be razed in the second phase that will begin after their occupants are provided with alternative places to reside.

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He cleared that the occupants of these houses will not be rendered homeless.

A survey conducted by Sindh Irrigation Department and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) few years ago pointed out thousands of built houses on Gujjar Nullah, stretched over a distance of 13.5 kilometers.

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According to the survey, 27 key water drains are occupied by the illegal encroachments with five to 80 percent occupation of the space, which are part of the natural drainage of the rainwater.

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