"Around 3.14 acres of land out of 12 acre land has so far been retrieved in the initial phase of the drive," said Railways Divisional Superintendent (DS) Mazhar Ali Shah, speaking at a media briefing at Railways City Station, here.
He said the remaining portions would be recovered within the given timeframe. He said the Supreme Court (SC) on May 9 directed the Railways, the city administration and the Sindh government to retrieve the KCR land from encroachments within the next 15 days. In compliance with the top court orders, the joint operation has been conducted on May 15.
"In the initial phase of the operation, our focus is to clear the right of way (RoW) of the KCR and hand it over to the provincial government, Mazhar Shah said.
He said the transport woes of the metropolis are enormous hence the initiative is aimed to help resurrect the KCR in line with the global standards. He said railway's modern commuter system for intra-city traveling would facilitate Karachiites.
Besides revival of KCR, DS Railways said, all set to initiate work on Main Line (ML-1) Project that is meant for replacing tracks from Karachi to Peshawar and then trains would run on that tracks at the speed of 160 per kilometer.
The Pakistan Railways officials said that shanties and concrete structures around Karachi University Station near NIPA roundabout to Johar Bridge were removed.
Prior to the action, the squatters were informed through notices.
A heavy contingent of the district's regular police and Pakistan Railways police were deployed to maintain law and order.
On the first day, drive was conducted in Gulshan-e-Iqbal's Block 13-D (district East), opposite to the Federal Urdu University of Arts Science and Technology, and some 300 huts and concrete structures were razed.
In the next phase, encroachment will be removed in the District West.
When asked about the rehabilitation of the affected families, DS Railways said it was responsibility of the provincial government which would arrange alternate location for them.
Around 4600 encroachers were identified after a long survey conducted by the KCR project management a few years back. The land measuring 223 acre had also been allocated in Shah Abdul Latif Town for those to be affected by the project.