SBCA chief seeks list of all illegal marriage halls, buildings in Karachi

KARACHI: Director General of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), Iftikhar Qaimkhani, has sought list of buildings, wedding halls and other structures built illegally in the city so timely action could be taken against them, ARY News reported.

The DG SBCA directed the officials to finalize and submit the list by Monday (Feb 4), otherwise strict action will be taken against them.

The SBCA director general had first summoned the list from officials on Jan 22, but his orders fell on deaf ears.

According to fresh directives, SBCA director in each town of the city has been asked to identify at least 10 illegal buildings in their respective zones.

Meanwhile on Friday, three floors of a residential building, illegally constructed in city’s area of North Nazimabad were demolished by the SBCA team.

The operation was conducted by a team of the SCBA in light of the Supreme Court orders.

The Supreme Court on Thursday (January 24) had directed the Sindh government to furnish a comprehensive plan within two weeks elucidating measures to restore Karachi to its original shape.

As many as 12 portions and two penthouses of a building were completely razed in an operation that lasted for 10 hours.

At the start of the operation, political interference was reported as, two gunmen of Pakistan People’s Party leader Arif Qureshi, allegedly created hurdles for the team and stopped them from razing the building.

It was learnt that the site that was razed, originally had approval of a double storey house, but the builder constructed additional floors on the aforesaid site.