shehri's perspective on gutter baghicha

Shehri-CBE is a civil society organization involved in the protection and conservation of the natural and built environment of Pakistan. Its perspective on Gutter Baghicha derives from its stated aim of research and action to promote initiatives in the areas of recreational development and heritage conservation.

Shehri's stand is that the 1017 acres of Gutter Baghicha, the pre-Independence municipal land located in S.I.T.E. Town along the Manghopir Road, is a public amenity space. Such amenity spaces cannot be converted to industrial, commercial or residential use, but must be used for the public welfare of the citizens of Karachi in general and the residents of the surrounding areas in particular.

In keeping with the commitment of the government, as expressed through the promise made by President Pervez Musharraf on 28th April 2002 to establish a citizen's park in Gutter Baghicha, immediate steps need to be taken by CDGK in coordination with the provincial governments, to resolve all pending issues, including the ones listed below:

• CDGK shall ensure that no further encroachment on and misuse of the amenity space is carried out at Gutter Baghicha.

• The auction in 1993 by CDGK of industrial plots within Gutter Baghicha shall be declared null and void.

• The illegal lease in 1993 by CDGK of 200 acres within Gutter Baghicha to the KMC officers' Cooperative Housing Society, along with sub-leases, shall be cancelled - as ordered vide notification.

• The illegal leases granted over the period of 1990-94 by S.I.T.E. within the Gutter Baghicha for ten industrial plots shall be cancelled.

• The illegal lease by CDGK in 1998 of a petrol-pump plot on the 100 feet road at the entrance of Gutter Baghicha shall be cancelled.

• Other illegal leases issued within the amenity park space shall be cancelled, including plots allotted to Ismailia Garden Cooperative Housing society and Safia Begum.

• The numerous water hydrants established along Gutter Baghicha boundaries by various parties, with or without the consent of CDGK, shall be removed.

• The discharge of poisonous/untreated effluents by S.I.T.E. industries into the Gutter Baghicha sewage system shall be stopped.

• The CDGK shall immediately prepare a master plan for the entire Gutter Baghicha amenity space, and then begin construction of a public park on the open 480 acres that is presently available and later include that land which becomes available after cancellation of illegal leases and encroachments.

Carving up of Gutter Baghicha

1. Ex KMC treamtent plant

2. KMC compost plant

3. Amenity plot

4. Notified katchi abadis of Asif colony, Zubair colony and Hasrat Mohani colony

5. Illegal allotted to Safia Begum and other

6. Illegal allotted to Ismailia Garden Cooperative Housing Society

7. Coconut grove

8. Unauthorized petrol pump

9. Unauthorized katchi abadi-Rexer village

10. Bohri Graveyard

11. Unauthorized Ali Mohammad Villageencroached by a chowkidar of KMC

12. KMC staff quarters

13. Graveyard encroachment

14. Unauthorized katchi adabi-united colony

15. KMC fabrication plant

16. KMC asphalt plant

17. ZMC workshop

18. Pumping station

19. Allotted and unallotted graveyards

20. Unauthorized Haroonabad industrial area