Karachi: The Supreme Court has issued an order to rehabilitate the people affected/displaced due to the land-retrieval operation of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), a news source reported. The top court has expressed the hope that the authorities concerned will complete the rehabilitation process in a year’s timeframe.
In a detailed judgement on the matter of KCR’s revival, the SC issued a number of guidelines and directives for the revival process itself, along with those for the rehabilitation of the affectees.
Secretary Pakistan Railways informed the two-member bench of SC that the authority will complete its work within fifteen days. He added that the Sindh government will then take over the project, and run both the local and circular trains.
The SC order states that the provincial government must ensure that local and circular railway becomes operational within one month’s time. It also stated that all officials and departments concerned must adhere to this schedule and make the service available to Karachi’s public within the said period of time.
The SC has directed that the places the affectees are transferred to must have proper amenities, and not to let these areas to become slums of the city. The bench ordered to employ consultancy of city planners and developers, and engineering and environmental authorities in this regard. The order also states to report the operation’s progress to the Karachi mayor, commissioner, chief secretary, and Secretary, Railway.
