Land-grabbers take over Aligarh Society

[LahoreEstate]

Monday, May 18, 2009
By Zeeshan Azmat

Karachi

The future of thousands of residents of the Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys Co-operative Housing Society is at stake as powerful groups of land-grabbers are allegedly trying to occupy the 233-acre piece of land by any possible means. The society is situated in Gadap Town and falls under Scheme 33.

Groups of land-grabbers are trying to establish “Goths” in each sector of the society to establish encroachments on vacant plots. They are using the flags and slogans of the ruling party. The land-grabbers have also set up makeshift offices and houses in five different sectors of the society, The News has learnt.

Ironically, these Goths are being named after former prime minister and slain leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP), Benazir Bhutto, and President of Pakistan (and PPP Co-Chairman) Asif Ali Zardari. Likewise, hoardings of ‘Goth Ali Muhammad Shiekh’ can be easily spotted during a visit to Sector 7A, victims told The News.

Despite the fact that a court recently ordered the Mukhtiarkar to remove encroachments in the area, armed land-grabbers still possess property belonging to others, they added.

Every attempt to construct protective boundary walls in all sectors have failed, as the armed wings of the mafia demolish even under-construction walls, residents of Aligarh Society said.

The society was established in 1968, and is spread over four to five kilometres of Ashanabad and Gulshan-e-Maymar. The society had clearance in 1984 from both, the Board of Revenue (BoR) and the (now-defunct) Karachi Development Authority (KDA). Sectors 5A, 5B, 7A, 7B, 9A1 and 9A2 comprise plots measuring 200-, 400- and 600-square-feet respectively.

Representatives of 1,530 allottees of the society told The News that they were planning a protest rally in the next few days. “Almost 200 to 300 vehicles will take to the roads and move towards the offices of the Town Police Officer, the Chief Minister House and the Governor House to lodge a protest against land-grabbers and the non-cooperative behaviour of the authorities concerned,” they added.

Although the society has hired approximately 100 armed guards, society members believe that they will not be secure unless they have the support of the local police.

The victims claim that land-grabbers bulldozed the boundary walls of several houses as well as empty plots, and now armed people sit on the property to keep genuine owners at bay. The retired servicemen and civil servants who live in the society approached their sources in order to get back the property but failed, the group of affected people said.

Locals have invested a heavy amount to install internal connections of water, sewerage and gas supply. They also bore the expenditure to build carpeted roads. The construction of the Northern Bypass and the highway to the North Karachi corridor has increased the value of the society, locals said. They believed that all these developments had attracted the land mafia and owing to the negligence of the local police, they established their roots in the area.

Society residents have urged government officials to pay attention towards their grievances and use an iron fist to handle land mafia groups operating in the society.

Criticising the role of local police, and especially the Superintendent of Police (SP) Rao Anwar, the victims say that the police did not take any action against the offenders. SP Anwar said, however, that only one complaint had been received. The complainant was told to come back after May 12 to discuss the matter, he said, adding that the person did not visit again.

“Unfortunately, everyone comes up with documents, and we are unable to ensure that they are genuine and not fake. It can take time to decide the real owner,” SP Anwar said, adding however, that the police will “kick out fraudsters from the area, with the help of the victims.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=178198