KARACHI: The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation has kicked off a major operation across the city to put an end to illegal parking fee collection and has also started cancelling plots that were leased unlawfully under the Orangi Township Project.
After Mayor Murtaza Wahab declared that parking would be free throughout Karachi, and on the directions of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, KMC launched a crackdown against those charging unauthorized fees.
Since the campaign began, three FIRs have been filed in different areas: the first at Kharadar police station on July 10 after complaints from the public, the second at Bahadurabad on July 28 during a City Wardens raid, and the third at Boat Basin on July 29 when offenders were caught in the act.
Mayor Wahab has appealed to residents not to pay parking charges and to report any such cases through the KMC Helpline 1339.
He has also instructed the City Warden Department to station teams at official free parking spots and to carry out regular patrols to enforce the policy.
In a separate move, KMC has started the cancellation of over 320 plots in Orangi Township that were found to have been leased without proper procedures. This comes after an internal inquiry was launched on the mayor’s orders.
The investigation uncovered that during the tenure of former Project Director Rizwan Khan, a large number of plots were allocated without following the correct legal process.
Back in 2019, one person was given 26 plots, while 180 were allotted to members of the same family and their close contacts.
A report submitted by the current Project Director, Faisal Rizvi, highlighted more than 500 suspicious allotments overall, 80 already under review and 320 newly uncovered.
KMC has started the cancellation process, and the matter has been referred to the director general of anti-corruption for further legal action.