City Nazim announces plan to widen,channelise Gujjar Nullah
Karachi:City Nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal, announced a plan for the development and widening of Gujjar Nullah. The city Nazim stated that the city government has decided to take immediate measures for the channelisation of Gujjar Nullah and service road on both sides at a cost of Rs 1 billion.
He said that for the rehabilitation of occupants removed during the operation the city government will provide 80 yard alternate plots to all the affectees. Talking to journalists, he said that the city government doesn’t want to make anyone homeless but it only wants to remove the encroachments for the purpose of construction and expansion of this drain.
He appealed to the people occupying the interior and exterior of the Nullah to vacate the occupied space voluntarily like the shiftees of the Lyari Expressway and assured that the city government will cooperate with them in this regard.
Kamal pointed out that the objective of channelisation of the Gujjar Nullah is not to cause inconvenience to the people unnecessarily, but it is being done in the city’s larger interest so that they are shifted from an unhealthy to a secure and clean environment.
According to the original layout plan, the drain is 13.5 Km long having a width of 14 to 37 feet. It starts from Shahrah Waliullah North Karachi, Buffern Zone and falls into Lyari River after passing through F.B Area, North Nazimabad and Liaquatabad.
Because of the encroachments, its width has reduced from 5 to 10 feet and even less at some points. It was not cleaned for the last 40 years because the machinery for the purpose cannot enter the drain and a situation had reached where the level of Nullah and drain has equalized. As a result, it is unable to take in water due to which the rain water enters residential areas.
Nazim Karachi said that in order to save the city from a major danger, it has become imperative for the city government to take difficult decisions in the city’s larger interest and rehabilitate the existing drains as per their original plan along with their channelisation and construction of service roads on both sides. He informed that after the Gujjar Nullah, work on the channelisation of Orangi and Manzoor Colony drains will be started.
Source: The News
Date:9/18/2007
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