KARACHI - The opposition parties in Sindh Assembly and nationalists have opposed the provincial government’s step of creating new Division Bhanbhore, terming it a plot to encroach the coastal land of Thatta through real estate builders.
Even, the PPP Badin district leadership has also expressed its reservations over the making Makli as headquarter of the new division, demanding the party’s provincial government to make Badin as headquarter; otherwise let the district remain the part of the existing Hyderabad Division.
The Sindh government has decided to constitute the sixth administrative division of the province with the name of Bhanbhore, comprising the districts of Badin, Thatta and Sujawal. Earlier, there were five existing administrative divisions in the province i.e. Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas, Larkana, and Karachi.
The notification in this regard would be issued within a week, announced by former provincial minister MPA Owais Muzaffar in his media talk other day. He claimed that the creation of Bhambhore division would help remove the sense of deprivation of the people.
But, the people of Badin district at Tando Bagho and Matli and areas have opposed the decision of making the Makli as headquarter of the new division, arguing that they are close to Hyderabad.
When contacted, PPP Sindh Council Member and party’s District Badin leader Haji Muhammad Ramzan told TheNation that he along with other party leaders at district level have conveyed their concerns to the provincial leadership. He said that the party’s district Badin chapter has advised the provincial leadership to make Badin as headquarter of the new division; otherwise let it remain the part of Hyderabad division.
According to reports, former National Assembly Speaker MNA Fahmida Mirza is also unhappy over the decision and has suggested the party’s provincial government to include Tharparkar as part of the new division, making Badin as its headquarter.
However, the PML-N’s provincial leader Muhammad Ismael Raho said that the creation of new division would not benefit to the people in Badin and other areas. He alleged that a famous real estate tycoon bought thousands of acres from the PPP government to promote the controversial Zulfiqarabad City project by constructing housing schemes and other projects in the area. He said that the PPP government had already sold thousands of acres of precious land to some real estate tycoons to mint money from them. He further alleged that the PPP leaders are running the government affairs as business through allotting the lands to friends and real estate tycoons in the coastal belt of the province.
Meanwhile, the nationalist parties also alleged that the PPP government hatched a conspiracy to make encroachments on the precious land of coastal areas by giving it to the friends of the PPP leaders in Thatta district. Besides, they said, the creation of new division with Makli as headquarter would facilitate the real estate tycoons for allotting lands and promoting the controversial Zulfiqarabad City Project. Qaumi Awami Tehreek leader Qadir Ranto said the new division would not benefit to the people, as the decision has been taken to make encroachment on the land of Thatta.
Meanwhile Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum chairman Muhammad Ali Shah termed the creation of new district as political decision, which will not benefit the people of the areas. He also alleged that the creation of a new division is a plot to facilitate the encroachers on the coastal belt of the province.
Political analyst and development expert Naseer Memon feared that future projects in the coastal area would result in influx of the outsiders, which might create demographic imbalance of population in the province.