NAB closes case of illegal sale of land in Karachi without investigating issue

KARACHI: As the lands allotted for parks are sold illegally, the chances increase of big buildings mushrooming in the city instead of green gardens sprawling in areas.

Around 26 years back, a land connected to Safari Park in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of Karachi was allotted for parks that would have been constructed by the government.

The parks were not constructed but some builders and elements in the Sindh government sold the valuable land in return for a scanty amount. According to sources, five-acre land worth Rs12.5 billion was sold for Rs60 million.

However, Transparency International Pakistan took notice of the issue and wrote to the National Accountability Bureau Sindh on September 10, 2016, informing them that two acres of the land was to be used for a commercial scheme by the name of Royal Park as per an announcement.

But the then director general of NAB and other officials of the bureau turned a deaf ear to the issue and closed the case without investigating into it.

Although sources said law-enforcement agencies have arrested the middleman partly responsible for the sale of land, the revenue board officials could not be reached for comments. Even NAB has not cleared it's stance on the matter.