“The master planning department should be responsible for the Nasra building problem”

Saifuddin Advocate of Jamaat-e-Islami was the Nazi Party of the 6th Trade Union Committee in 2007. The residential plot where Nasla Tower was built at that time was later granted commercial status. He said that his job at the University of California office was just a postman.

He explained that the UC office used to send applications to the master planning department to change the state of the land with or without opposition. Mustafa Kamal of the Muttahida Qaumi movement was the mayor of Karachi at the time, so the department was under him.

The original area of ​​the plot is 780 square yards (sq yds), ​​but the commercial status is 1,044 square yards. The Supreme Court recently instructed the City Commissioner to remove all occupants from the Sindh Muslim Cooperative Housing Society (SMCHS) buildings and then demolish them.

The court observed that after reviewing the records, the building was undoubtedly built on occupied land and, among other things, blocked the service road.

On March 13, 2007, after the non-profit organization Shehri raised objections, Saifuddin issued a no-objection certificate for the conversion of land use during his tenure as UC-6 Nazim.

On September 22, 2007, when Kamal was the mayor, the Karachi city government’s master planning department officially approved the conversion of the land from residential to commercial use, allowing the construction of shops, office buildings and apartments.

Saifuding explained that, as a routine matter, the department used to share cases of land status conversion with relevant UC after issuing a notice of holding a hearing to hear objections.

“No matter what objections are raised in public hearings, we used to forward them to the master planning department,” he said, adding that the final approval of the commercial status is the department’s job.

He said that in the past they would check whether the land was on a road that had been declared for commercial use, so the application to change the condition of the land did not seem to be a problem. “We also often check [conversion of land] Is creating a nuisance to the public. For example, if you want to build a movie theater or liquor store,” he said, adding that if such nuisances are found, they used to report to the master planning department and raise objections.

He emphasized that even the recent SC order is not aimed at commercialization, but at the illegal distribution of land. “If SMCHS allocates land illegally, they should be asked.”

As for JI’s position on this issue, he said: “Whether it is right or wrong, it has already happened. Ultimately, the end user or buyer is suffering now. If the plot can be regularized now, it should be.”

Lot A-193, where Nasla Tower is located today, originally had an area of ​​780 square yards in 1950. SMCHS allocated an additional 264 square yards of the Sharea Faisal service road to the landowner at the time, increasing its area to 1,044 square yards. The entire 1,044 square yard has commercial status.

Saifuddin said that the conversion of land morphology only refers to the size of the plot, not when and how to increase it. He said that the job of the master planning department is to carefully review the details of the plot before granting it commercial status.

He emphasized that the department should also check records before adjusting additional service roads. Despite repeated attempts, Kamal could not be reached for comment.