There are 539 notified katchi abadis in Karachi and approximately 2.5 million people are living in these katchi abadis. There are some 0.41 million housing units in the city while land mafia occupied 15484 acres of land. There are some 803 goths in the metropolis and some 500 non-notified katchi abadis beside 539 notified katchi abadis.
The land grabbers have occupied all government buildings and lands, which were encroached before and after the creation of the country. In these occupied lands, 07 katchi abadis were established on the lands of Site area, while 14 katchi abadis were established on the lands of Pakistan Railways, 4 were established on lands of PWD and 1 katchi abadi was encroached on the land of TNT (Telephone & Telegraph).
Some 8 katchi abadis were encroached over the lands of Karachi Port Trust (KPT), 8 were built on the lands of Evacue Trust, 3 abadis were established over the land of Central Excise and Land Custom (CELC) and 2 were encroached on the land of Defence Authority.
There are some 42 katchi abadis which are encroached over the land of Board of Revenue (BoR), 298 katchi abadis were dealt with City District Government Karachi (CDGK) and 40 katchi abadis were established over the lands of federal government.
Four katchi abadis were encroached over the lands of PWD. These include Pervez Colony FC Area, Punjabi Colony FC Area, Jamshaid Quarters and Patel Para. These katchi abadis were encroached on the lands of government offices.
Katchi abadis that were built over the land of Custom Excise and Land Custom (CELC) include Grex Village, Mauripur, Maripur Village and Tukri Village. These katchi abadis were encroached by local residents due to lack of check and balance of concerned authorities.
The eight katchi abadis that were encroached on the lands of Karachi Port Trust (KPT) are named as Dock Colony, Angar Colony, Trans Layari, Majeed Colony, Mangopir Colony, Machar Colony, Muhammadi Colony and NTR Colony. There are only two katchi abadis Sultanabad and Hazara Colony, which are encroached over the lands of Defence authorities.
Approximately 14 katchi abadis were established on the land of Pakistan Railway. These include Umar Colony, Future Colony, Ghas Bandar, Kemari, Chanesar Halt, Morio Khan Goth, Shereen Jinnah Colony, Higrat Colony, Karachi Bandar, Gulshan Colony and Generalabad.
The katchi abadis of Site Area include Pathan Colony, Frontier Colony, Bawani Chali, Haroonabad, Gulbai, and Zia Colony. CDC Compound, Ganj Shakar Makhdoom, Setal Das Compound, Supariwala Compound, Bara Mukhi Compound, Magna Nath Compound, Herajee and Ratanjee Compound and Narain Para are the katchi abadis Evacue Trust.
Amongst these non-regularised katchi abadis, some were registered by Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority (SKAA) and City District Government Karachi (CDGK) while others were still under discussion. The main reason that why these katchi abadis were not regularised by the concerned government authorities is that these katchi abadis were encroached over the lands of some other government institution and these institutions of government are not ready to lose these prime lands of the city.
The land grabbers are trying to include these illegal encroachments in the master plan of some government regularisation institutions like SKAA and CDGK so as to get complete hold of these government lands. Postal and Telegraph (P&T) Colony, which was a government building, was regularised by Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC). The regularisation of government lands is a crime so how KMC regularised P&T Colony.
The government has provided all type of facilities in these katchi abadis even though that were built over governmental lands. These land grabbers are enjoying all benefits, which are given to government employees.