KARACHI: During a hearing at the Sindh High Court, a senior government official informed the court that the actual location of Bahria Town Karachi 2 (BTK-2) could only be determined after a survey of the land in each Deh and establishing the latest ownership.
The Sindh Forest secretary had previously stated that the project was approved wrongly by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and Sehwan Development Authority (SDA) on forest lands, as evidenced by attested maps.
Petitioner Salahuddin moved the SHC, stating that BTK-2 was located close to PAF Base Bholari on the Karachi-Hyderabad side of M-9 and close to highly sensitive defense installations, undermining and compromising the country’s defense.
He requested that the court form a joint investigation team to survey and investigate the title and ownership of the land on which the BTK-2 layout plan was drawn.
Additional Advocate General Allah Bachayo Soomro filed comments on behalf of the respondent forest secretary regarding ‘mother entries’ of the subject land.
The forest secretary stated in the comments that the actual site position with the latest entries could only be determined after a survey of the total lands of Dehs by earmarking lands on the ground and maps as per the latest ownership of land in each Deh.
He also noted that the prima facie land in dispute regarding the petition doesn’t fall within protected forests.
The actual site position of BTK-2 can be determined accurately by detailed survey and mapping of the land of each owner of Deh maps, which could be done by Survey of Pakistan, BoR, and Forest department, he stated.
The petitioner’s counsel, Fayyaz Metlo, told Dawn that the forest department and Survey of Pakistan were preparing maps and demarcation of forest lands.
Source: DAWN
