Model Town set to take on illegal commercialisation

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* Plans to send notices to residents for commercialising houses against society rules
* Society act declares such development illegal, considers it threat to area’s peace
* Resident blames administration for illegal commercialisation
* MTS president says admin will take serious action after dealing with post-blast situation

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: The Model Town Society has decided to re-launch its campaign against illegal commercialisation in the area after realising that it led to security agencies also establishing their offices in the locality, causing several civilian deaths in two separate bombs attacks in the area, Daily Times learnt on Wednesday.

The decision was made by senior MTS officials after realising that commercial activities caused several other problems for the residents, including traffic and pollution.

The society administration plans to start sending notices to hundreds of residents for commercialising their houses against society rules and warn them of cancelling their memberships if they failed to comply with the orders. There are more than 300 illegally commercialised residences in Model Town, 45 of them were educational institutions, 50 private clinics, less than a dozen UN offices and multinational firms, a few Punjab government offices and several others running private businesses.

A number of private schools, colleges, offices and markets have been illegally developed in the area during the past few decades while successive administrations blamed the previous ones and have been unable to resolve the issue so far.

Nuisance: However, the Cooperative Model Town Society Act, 1962 declares any such development illegal and considers it a nuisance and threat to peace in the area. The residents stepped up their efforts to rid the area of illegal commercialisation amid fear of losing their lives and property after the bomb blasts at the Federal Investigation Agency and the Special Investigation Agency.

MTS governing body member Rana Mateen said the residents had already faced enough damage, adding they would leave no stone unturned to end illegal commercialisation and remove security agencies’ offices from the area.

He said the decision to arrest the “greedy” people who jeopardised the lives of other residents for their personal interests was right and the administration was authorised in the society by-laws to take appropriate action, such as cutting utility connections and suspending memberships of the violators. “The straw has already broken the camel’s back and it was an ‘enough is enough’ situation for the residents who only want all security agencies to vacate their offices from the locality as soon as possible,” a K-block resident Iftikhar Khan said.

Blame: He alleged that the society administration was responsible for the illegal commercialisation because they allowed people to do so, alleging that some residents even commercialised their facilities and paid utility bills of a domestic user by obliging their “friends” in the administration.

Khan said the situation encouraged security agencies to shift their offices to the area who were paying large sums of money as rent to their tenants to stay here.

He said Model Town would remain the best residential facility in Lahore if the administration managed to get rid of the illegal commercialisation and fix other issues related to water and power supply. However, Khan did not expect any action against commercial activities in the area, saying that previous administrations also tried to do so but to no avail.

Serious action: However, MTS President Col ® Tahir Kardar told Daily Times that the administration was serious about eliminating the illegally commercialised facilities from the society as soon as they settle the situation emerging after Monday’s blast. He said his management initiated similar campaigns in 2008 and managed to arrest several violators, adding that the administration was also urging the government to remove the illegally developed offices from the area.