Railway police and KMC clash over Karachi road on railway land

A road project meant to ease Karachi’s traffic is at the centre of a tense confrontation between Pakistan Railways police and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) city wardens, threatening to derail construction just weeks before its scheduled completion, Dawn reported.

The dispute began on Sunday afternoon, when railway police stopped work at the site over alleged “unauthorised construction” on railway land. It escalated into a scuffle, and railway police took the director of the KMC City Wardens, Saim Imran, to a police station.

The project

The road is a dual carriageway linking Natha Khan Bridge with Pehlwan Goth and Habib University, running parallel to Chakor Nullah. It is meant to give commuters travelling through Gulistan-e-Jauhar and nearby areas an alternative route. Worth about Rs780 million, it is expected to ease pressure on Sharea Faisal, Rashid Minhas Road, Dalmia Road and Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Its completion deadline is October 30.

Two versions of what happened

Railways, a federal government enterprise, says the road encroaches on land belonging to the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) and that construction on it was unauthorised. A Pakistan Railways official said the dispute arose over building on railway land, that officials were collecting information on the incident, and that the next step would follow the law once details had been gathered. Railway police said the work was stopped because it was being done without the required permission, The Express Tribune reported.

KMC officials say railways never raised an objection before and rejected the claim of land ownership. “This is not correct,” a KMC spokesman said, adding that the corporation had met all legal requirements before starting the project more than two months ago. He said any move to put it at risk “would be detrimental to the interests of Karachi’s residents”, and that senior KMC officials were in touch with railway authorities and hoped for a quick resolution.

KMC alleges that railway police beat City Wardens Director Saim Imran severely before taking him to a police station. According to KMC officials cited by The Express Tribune, the railway police SHO arrived with a contingent of personnel, detained Imran and took him away in a police vehicle, and Imran and other staff were subjected to violence. These claims are KMC’s; railway authorities have not responded to them in the reports.

Executive engineer’s allegations

Ishrat Hussain, the executive engineer overseeing the project, accused the SHO of using high-handed tactics. He said work was under way when railway police intervened and that railway authorities should have raised their objections through official channels. He also alleged that railways had demanded exorbitant sums for no-objection certificates, claiming Rs20 million had been paid for the construction of a bridge at Bhains Colony. He asked why no similar action was taken against a furniture market on Sehba Akhtar Road that he said occupies railway land. He said Mayor Murtaza Wahab was looking into the matter and that the link road was a public project meant to improve traffic flow.

A wider political edge

Dawn noted that the confrontation could take on a wider political dimension because relations are already strained between the federal government, led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, and the Pakistan Peoples Party, which governs Sindh and runs Karachi’s municipal administration. The timing, with the deadline weeks away, has raised questions about why railways raised the issue at this stage.

Why it matters

Karachi’s commuters were promised relief on a congested corridor, and the work has now stopped over a disagreement between two arms of government that could have been settled on paper. The facts on land ownership, and any permissions given, will decide whether the project can resume before October 30, or whether a Rs780 million road sits unfinished while the dispute is argued. Read our earlier report on Murad Ali Shah inviting a Chinese firm to lay a water pipeline for Karachi.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn and The Express Tribune.