Encroachments major obstacle to KCR revival
KARACHI: Even after its recent inclusion in the list of
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, the Karachi Circular
Railway revival seems to be an uphill battle due to the heavy
encroachment upon its route as no strategy has yet been announced for
their removal despite the lapse of a deadline set in this regard by the
provincial authorities, it emerged on Sunday. As there
are around 7,650 structures, including 4,653 houses, illegally built on
67 acres out of 360-acre land required for the KCR, the Karachi
commissioner had been asked by the chief minister to design a strategy
in consultation with deputy commissioners for their removal and submit
its report by Jan 17. However, sources said, no such report has been
submitted till date, while residents who have been living on the
encroached land are in a fix about their fate. Babu told
Dawn that he grew up in a hut built on one side of the KCR tracks in
Block 13-D of Gulshan-i-Iqbal. “We, children, took care not to tread on
the track as the signal was down,” he said while pointing to a rusty old
signal pole up ahead. “There also used to be gates to stop the road
traffic while the train passed through,” he shared.
Report on encroachment removal plan not submitted to Sindh govt despite lapse of deadline
“Now I live here with my wife and seven children. We have
also built a small temple in one of the huts for pooja. The local mosque
also helped us by installing a hand pump after digging a well for water
here,” he gestured to a woman washing clothes near the hand pump. He
said that he knew about Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
and now the CPEC being associated with the KCR revival. “It is a good
thing. But tell us where are we to go? We have been living here for
years,” he said. Encroachment by people on the railway
land is a big issue to tackle. According to a survey carried out a few
years ago by the KCR project management, there are thousands of people
who have illegally occupied this land. There are plans to move them to
another piece of railway land at Jumma Goth near Landhi and Bin Qasim
where they would be given flats along with a sum of Rs50,000 per family.
The situation was not as grim before 1999 when the KCR
was finally discontinued. The reason for the discontinuation was that
the Pakistan Railways was said to be making a loss by running the trains
all over the city with few passengers taking advantage of the facility.
Another version suggests that private transporters conspired with some
corrupt staffers in the railways to fulfill their desire to bag the bulk
of passengers for themselves. Whatever, happened then, it led to the
end of KCR followed by several failed attempts at reviving it. Recalling
the fond memories of the KCR, Manzoor Ahmed Razi, chairman of the
Railway Workers Union, said he was the first one to issue a KCR ticket.
“It was back in 1970. One year after joining the Railways as booking
clerk at the City Station, I was posted at platforms number 5 and 6 in
1970. It being still a new thing, there were hardly any passengers then
to take the train to travel within the city. That’s when our general
manager, vice chairman and two divisional officers formed a queue
outside the ticketing window for tickets,” he remembered. “The Pakistan
Television was there to record the moment. I sold four tickets worth Re1
as each cost 25 paisa,” he said. Using trains as a
means for short travel was the idea of former President Ayub Khan in
1962. At first the trains moving internally had the Landhi to Malir main
line. By 1969 the track was extended to Wazir Mansion with a station
named Wazir Mansion Station also coming about at the location. Following
that came the train stations at Lyari, SITE and Korangi but all local
trains wouldn’t go beyond Wazir Mansion. “The people would complain that
they can’t get on a local train from the City Station so the Wazir
Mansion track was extended to the Karachi Port Trust building near
Tower. It was also called the KPT Station,” he said. Meanwhile,
the City Station with its four platforms got two more platforms in
1970, platforms number 5 and 6, near the National Bank of Pakistan head
office. “That was when the KCR, as we knew it, was complete,” Mr Razi
said, adding that KCR also used to concession tickets of Rs17 for
travelling as much as one liked for a month. For students, it used to be
Rs11 for one month. “And if you wanted to travel one time only, the
ticket cost 25 paisa.” There were 28 trains for
travelling the distance between Landhi and Malir Cantt. Moving upwards
and downwards on the track made it 56 trips. Some 13 trains travelled on
the rest of the tracks around the city, making it 26 trips up and down
the tracks. “Not hundreds, but thousands of people used the KCR as a
means of travel. But things changed in 1999 when the
concessions for frequent travelers were no longer on offer. And each
ticket cost Rs10. “Then President Pervez Musharraf and his Minister for
Communications and Railways Lieutenant General (retired) Javed Ashraf
Qazi decided to just discontinue KCR after realising that the Pakistan
Railways was losing money in running the trains as there were no longer
so many passengers using them. They also thought that the locomotives
could be put to better use,” he said. Later, the JICA
was approached to help revive the KCR. But by then the tracks had
already been buried under loads of garbage. And where the garbage didn’t
accumulate, people encroached by building huts on and around the
tracks. The KCR track running along Sharea Faisal to the
Karachi City Station, booking offices, station master’s offices,
meanwhile, are still intact. There is a 43-km line around Karachi, which
could be dug out and cleaned up for use. Laying new tracks, to Surjani
and New Karachi can also be done in less than a year. Former mayor of
Karachi Niamatullah Khan also thought that the KCR could be revived by
bringing in retired drivers of the Pakistan Railways. Loans have been
lent by the World Bank and set aside for the project but it seems to be a
non-starter, nevertheless. “Even with funds available from the World
Bank, there was a tug of war between the city government, the Sindh
government, the federal government and Pakistan Railways all wondering
who should be spending the money. Now we have China stepping in, which
is like a gift for the people of Karachi,” said a source within the
government. “But realistically speaking, even if this project is a part
of CPEC, it would take two to three years to complete,” he added.