THIS is apropos of the letter ‘Land mafia’ ( April 28) by M. Butt. The writer has very rightly pointed out that some anti - social elements encroached upon and grabbed the precious land of the Karachi Fish Harbour for many years.

It is clarified that the Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority (KFHA) is making allout efforts to weed out such unscrupulous anti - social elements but whenever the KFHA attempts to enforce regulations and take action against wrongdoers, they always tried to sabotage the entire exercise and challenge the writ of the government.

There are a couple of so - called fishermen associations operating under the garb of fishermen welfare whose leaders have vested interests in the harbour.

They have a backing of some political parties.

Focusing the latest development at the global, regional and local levels in the fishing industry, the KFHA has revitalised its working strategy with a professional approach based on fisheries management, quality development and safe food.

To achieve the goal, a master plan of the Karachi Fish Harbour had been prepared for the first time under which major development will be taking place.

The master plan has been approved by the board of directors of the KFHA, as well as by the Sindh government.

After the approval by the board of directors, the KFHA moved forward to implement the master plan and bring the activities at harbour in an organised manner.

Such bold steps made ways open for European Union export.

The KFHA made allotments in a transparent manner through NIT in leading newspapers but some land grabbers/land mafia are occupying the land under the master plan, thereby creating hurdles in implementation of the master plan.

The unfortunate aspect of this resistance is that our fishermen select such persons as their leaders as have criminal record and are professional land grabbers.

Therefore, the KFHA would advise all fishermen, labourers and other harbour users to avoid becoming a tool in the hands of so-called leaders and instead support the government/KFHA efforts to promote fisheries sector.

SAGHEER AHMED PRO, KFHA Karachi