Karachi: The Pakistan
Railways has initiated a survey to determine the requirement of modern facilities
and services on the Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) track, a news source
reported. As per the publication, this project has been revived on orders issued
by the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan.
For this purpose, the Railways also launched several raids in order to retrieve KCR land from encroachers in various parts of the city. During a meeting held with Railways officials, Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani requested the department to not leave people homeless during the operations.
The scheduled
anti-encroachment operation in the Gharibabad area of District South did not
commence on Saturday (Feb 15). The operation will impact over 600 households,
who could be deprived of their homes. The initial phase of the operation will involve
developmental work to be carried out on the railway track; followed by further
efforts to reconstruct level crossings on the tracks and to make railway
stations more functional.
The Pakistan Railways has made the decision to overhaul the KCR project in different stages. Initially, it will just focus on observing the track between the Wazir Mansion station and the Drigh Road station, before operationalizing the remaining track.
According to another
source, the relevant authorities had decided against decimating human
settlements before February 21 — the date on which the Supreme Court would hear
the case. In addition, the Sindh government and the Pakistan Railways have also
come up with a proposal to be shared with the apex court pertaining to the
resettlement of residents living along the track.
