ISLAMABAD: Minister for Railways Shiekh Rasheed Ahmed on Wednesday told the National Assembly that the government will not demolish any legal property in Karachi in the name of the anti-encroachment drive.
Responding to a question, the minister said that 42 kilometers of land owned by Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) was illegally occupied and difficult to vacate as the people had built their house on the land are were not willing to relocate.
However, both the Centre and Sindh government in compliance with the Supreme Court’s direction took measures to start KCR, said the minister.
He said apart from KCR, another entity Karachi Urban Transport Company (KUTC) also exists with the 60 percent shares of the federal government and 40 percent shares of the Sindh government.
He said the federal government willing to give its 60 percent share to the Sindh Government to run the project on a priority basis but the Supreme Court refused the proposal of the federal government with directions to functional KCR.
He said the Supreme Court has given 6-month time to the Sindh Government to construct underpasses on 24 roads crossing on the route of KCR.
Both the Centre and Sindh government have resolved to complete the KCR project in the given time period but the reality is that the government has a scarcity of financial resources, said the minister.
“We do not have money [even] to pay pensions,” said Rasheed.
