The menace of encroachment has engulfed just about every major bazaar and road in some of Pakistan’s major cities including Karachi. The biggest city of Pakistan is perhaps also the biggest victim of encroachment and this mini python of land mafia seems to be growing, like weed, with every passing day.
There are two types of encroachments, one is on the private property the other one is on the public places or the government owned areas, like the service roads and areas in front of the shops.
The first type of encroachment is quite dangerous for the property owners as people feel unsafe in buying disputed property. Many areas and societies of Karachi are facing this type of problem and because of this evil an adequately located property loses its value since no one is interested in buying it. This also shows that the concerned authorities are helpless in securing the original owners. In this kind of encroachments there is always an acute involvement of political parties and land mafia.
The second type of encroachment is the one done on public places and authority owned areas. This kind of practice is not that risky, but it makes the area congested. It makes travelling difficult and restricts access to the residential areas. Thus it decreases the value of property in the long run since after effects are quite gruesome.
Karachi is pestered with such encroachments and perhaps the example of main road of Karachi, Shahra-e-Faisal, could prove to be quite helpful in comprehending the gravity of the situation. Since it is connected to the airport, anyone who enters the city gets the first impression of the city from this road. On this road, there are many office buildings where all type business activity including banks, multinational offices, money changers, food outlets, big markets, etc. The service roads on the above mentioned road are packed with encroachments due to which the whole road experiences traffic jams and many people end up wasting hours stuck on the road.
Some believe that the traffic problem has been worsened because of the fact that initially, almost all plots facing the main boulevard were residential, except a select few. It was only later on that they were all converted into commercial. Because of the lack of proper parking space, the problem of traffic was aggravated when businesses started setting up their offices on the main road. Because of all these issues, there are many who abhor setting up an office in the vicinity and prefer to operate from other parts of the city.
In the wake of the trending encroachments, the prices of property are decreasing and this area is not fit for the users. As a matter of fact, it is among those places which would have had the highest value in the city but because of the looming evil and the incompetency of the related authorities, no one is interested in investing here and prices are very low as well.
I hereby request the concerned authorities to take immediate action and obliterate all kinds of encroachments as early as possible. The city is in a dire need of parking space for the commercial area. The government should enforce strict rules and regulations regarding the allotment of property with reference to the building plans and the COS ratio at the time of approval.
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