Lahore: Model Town residents flay unauthorized commercial activity

[Naveed Yaseen]

The residents of Model Town Society (MTS) have criticized the ongoing commercialization and unauthorized construction in the society with the connivance of MTS staff.

They expressed these views in a meeting of MTS Residents Association held here on Monday. The agenda of meeting was to discuss illegal commercialization in the residential areas of the society, unauthorized and illegal construction by the residents with the connivance of the MTS staff, installation of billboards and bus stop signs without tenders, increased traffic nuisance caused by the alleged illegal construction of a big wholesale store in a designated fruit garden and addition of 2nd and 3rd floors in the markets without any substantial increase in rent, etc.

Amer Azam, the president of MTS Resident Association, said that one of the biggest concerns of all residents was the ongoing illegal commercialization in the residential areas and the lukewarm response of the society management against such culprits. “Residents now feel that the ones who violate the law have the upper hand and the support of the management and the ones who have been aggrieved by such illegal activity have no one to turn to,” he maintained.

He alleged that due to financial gratification all illegal structures were allowed to be constructed whereas drawings of those structures reflected that they were not according to the by laws of the society. These illegally constructed houses and commercial ventures were there for all to see except the management which turned a blind eye for obvious reasons, added. In all such cases, the adjoining neighbors, who were the aggrieved parties, complained but no action was being taken against the violator, he claimed.

Noshaba Mudasar raised the issue of bill boards and bus stop signs, which had been awarded without tenders. She also raised concern about signboards being installed in the green belts of the Model Town.

All present were very concerned about the addition of two more floors in the markets of Model Town. They said the permission was granted without any consideration to the parking issues or without raising the tariff for the additional floors.

Amer Azam said that another point of concern was the construction of houses by the employees of the society in parks. He said MTS officials, with connivance of the management and each other had got themselves allotted land in the parks and built houses there. He maintained that the rooms built for tube-well operators were also occupied by some employees even after the tube wells were relocated to other sites.

Shoaib, elected member of the society, expressed concern about the pathetic state of the Hindu temple, which had been encroached upon to the fullest and now resembled a kacchi abadi.

Dr Fauzia, ex-elected member, condemned the use of generators by influential residents, saying many people had installed big generators outside their houses, especially in C block and the society was unable to do anything about it.

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