Illegal commercial activities irking residents in the residential area of National

[CMY]

The construction of illegal shops in the residential area of National Police Foundation (NPF), E-11/4, is irking residents who have repeatedly registered their complaints to relevant authorities but to no avail.

The shops comprising the building construction material are set up at the main residential area that is causing nuisance to the people residing here due to the noise of loading and unloading of the material and due to the frequent visits of contractors and labourers from different parts of the city.

According to the CDA by-laws a residential area could not be used for the commercial purpose moreover the by-laws of NPF also restrict such kind of construction but nothing has been done so far to discourage this illegal act.

The residents of the area claimed that they had registered their complaints to the relevant department of CDA and also to the relevant officials of NPF but nothing has been done so far on ground reality rather the number of shops and kiosks kept on increasing that is inviting suspicious people and apparently surreptitious activities.

The residents also requested the contractor (owner of the shops) to leave the place for the larger interest of the residents but he refused and threatened that he had support of some politician and nobody could move him from that place.

A resident Asim Raza told ‘The News’ that it was a pity that such breakers of law were given such a free hand. “The establishment of shops in the residential area is destroying the atmosphere of the area,” he said.

He said that the shops always remain crowded with the labourers, which hinders free mobility of women. “Our women could not walk in terrace or lawn as they keep on staring them,” he said.

Tauqir Umer, another resident said that the grimmest aspect of the situation was that all was being done under the nose of the NPF. “Even though the matter has been brought to the notice to NPF site engineer several time through phone and personal visits but all went in vein,” he said.

Tauqir said that they even could not allow their kids to play outside, as they were afraid of suspicious visits of some persons.

Mrs Baig, another resident said that the atmosphere created by those shopkeepers and contractors force them to restrict their kids to their homes, as they openly use drugs and use vulgar language. “We don’t allow our children to play outdoors, as they could adopt bad things from such atmosphere,” she said.

A Capital Development Authority (CDA) official told ‘The News’ that although E-11/4 was a housing society yet all CDA building by-laws equally implement there. “According to the CDA by-laws it is a crime to establish shops in a residential area,” he said.

CDA Director Building Control Malik Murtaza when contacted said that he was not the relevant person to comment and directed to contact Director Planning Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu in this regard.

When contacted Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu told ‘The News’ that CDA building by-laws were equally applicable on housing societies, as in other sectors but its implementation mechanism was different. “We could not directly enforce laws on housing societies but Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Registrar Cooperative is responsible for the implementation of these laws,” he said. However, ICT Registrar Cooperative Malik Din Mohammad denied having any such responsibility regarding the illegal construction at E-11/4.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=119334