Sindh Govt. appealed to refrain KDA from cancelling allotment letters of Mehran Town.

KARACHI -- While expressing deep concerns over an announcement made by Karachi Development Authority (KDA) to cancel all the allotment letters of residential plots including commercial and industrial in Mehran Town, President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Muhammad Idrees has appealed the Sindh Government to refrain KDA from cancelling the allotment letter as it was purely an anti-business, anti-public and anti-economy move. In a statement issued, President KCCI said that KDA intends to cancel allotment orders of 1401 plots where hundreds of industries were providing jobs to millions of workers since many decades. 'What will be the fate of all these industrial units, millions of workers and their families who get their bread and butter from these units', he asked, adding that the poor masses and the business community were already going through the toughest times of their lives due to disaster caused by covid-19 pandemic and now the KDA has also stepped in to further aggravate the hardships instead of acting leniently in an extraordinary situation.

He pointed out that Mehran Town, which was announced in 1973, was spread on a huge land of 1,150 acres and it was an area where a large number of small sized, medium and cottage industries had been established long time ago which were an integral part of the supply chain as it was these industries which, besides catering to local demand, also provide essential raw materials to many industries all over Karachi. It must also be kept in mind that the cottage industries are a major source of generating employment particularly for women which was the basic phenomena for establishing these cottage industries in the neighborhoods such as Mehran Town so that women could easily focus on work as well as their homes. The biggest advantage of setting up cottage industries in residential areas was that it creates gender employment which has always been the top priority of the Sindh government, he added. President KCCI said, 'The decision to cancel allotment orders of all the residential plots by alleging misuse of plots and violation of rules and regulations of the allotment has to be reviewed and immediately withdrawn in the larger interest of the economy and the poor masses.

He said that it was a matter of grave concern that the decision to cancel allotments has been taken independently without consulting with stakeholders and the affectees which would not only trigger poverty and...