ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court ordered the authorities concerned torestore the Karachi Circular Railway within a month.
During the hearing of a case pertaining to encroachments in the southernmetropolis on Thursday, the apex court expressed displeasure overnon-implementation of its previous orders.
Justice Gulzar Ahmed, who headed a bench of the court at its Karachiregistry, directed the Secretary Railways to demolish encroachments fromthe railway lands within a period of two weeks.
The SC judge inquired whether the official was oblivious of the verdictpassed by the court, castigating the Secretary Railways and other officialsover their failure to implement the court orders.
The secretary informed the bench that the department has cleared 10 acresof land, which he assured will be transferred to the Sindh government.
The bench also directed the chief secretary Sindh to launch ananti-encroachment operation with the help of the Karachi mayor and otherrelevant officials to clear the railway lands of encroachments.
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The judge remarked that if railway authorities face resistance during theanti-encroachment drive, they should enlist the help of the army andRangers.;the hearing was adjourned for an indefinite period.
Last year, the Supreme Court had directed the authorities to immediatelyrevive the Karachi Circular Railway.
In February this year, the Sindh Assembly was informed that PakistanRailways was not cooperating with the provincial government to give theright of way for the construction and revival of the Karachi CircularRailway.
Minister for Transport and Mass Transit Syed Awais Qadir Shah said that theland could not be made available to the Karachi Urban Transport Corporationto reconstruct the KCR as the Pakistan Railways is neither ready to disturbits main railway line nor its trunk lines in the city.
