KARACHI: Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani Friday demanded that those who are responsible for issuing construction permits for the Nasla Tower building should be held responsible and punished.<\/p>\n
Speaking to a private news channel program, the minister said the guilty party \u2014 whether it be the Sindh government or the Nasla Tower builder \u2014 should be punished rather than those who bought the flats.<\/p>\n
“For sake of argument if I say the builder is at fault, Sindh government is at fault, Saeed Ghani is at fault or even if Murad Ali Shah is at fault, punish them first,” he said.<\/p>\n
He called on the courts to hand exemplary punishments to those responsible for the construction of the tower rather than those who were residing in it.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think they [Nasla Tower affectees] are even 1% responsible,” he stated. “When they bought flats or shops there, I am sure they must have checked all the SBCA approvals and maps before doing so,” he added.<\/p>\n
Speaking about providing compensation to affectees, he said it is “not an easy task” as there are a lot of [illegally constructed] buildings in Karachi and it would take billions of rupees and 10-15 years to fully compensate them.<\/p>\n
‘Chief sahab should ask those who approved Nasla Tower’s plan’
\nMohsin Shaikhani, the Chairman of the Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) also spoke on the show, saying that those who approve Nasla Tower’s construction plan should be punished.<\/p>\n
“How can we do business if after spending crores and obtaining 17 NOCs, we are told that a paper has no [legal] value?” he asked.<\/p>\n
Shaikhani lamented that the commissioner Karachi had started demolishing the tower and vacating families but had not provided alternate living arrangements for the affectees.<\/p>\n
“These people have been thrown out on the roads. They are forced to live on rent,” he said. “Someone should tell them where they will go from here,” he added.<\/p>\n