CDA fails to remove encroachments along service road

[LahoreEstate]

Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Mobarik A. Virk

Islamabad

It is almost over three months that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has been unable to comply with a directive issued from the President’s Secretariat (Public) to take action against the encroachments that have sprawled over a vast tract along the Service Road (West) of sectors G-11 and F-11.

The residents of the two sectors, particularly those living along this ‘Service Road’ have been voicing their concern over this illegal occupation of the public land by the encroachers who have set up all sorts of businesses across the road in the green belt, causing not only extreme congestion, but have become a serious security concern as well.

Having failed to draw the attention of the concerned directorate in the CDA to take any meaningful action to uproot these encroachments or even to prevent any further expansion of these a group of residents approached the Presidency with their grievance and sought relief. On February 19, 2009, director (Administration) in the President’s Secretariat (Public) forwarded the petition filed by this group to the CDA chairman to look into the matter and ‘take appropriate action as per rules and government policy’ and intimate the petitioners as well as the President’s Secretariat (Public) about the action. However, over three months have passed and no action has been initiated by the authority on this appeal by the residents of the area. The residents complained that the ‘Enforcement Directorate’ of the CDA has been refusing to pay any attention to their complaints against these encroachments as a result a ‘rate race has been going on with full swing and the land mafia has built hundreds of structures, workshops, stores, shops, and kiosks along the road in the green area’.

They said that these encroachments have not only marred the beauty of the area, but have damaged the road as well that causes great hardships to the people travelling through this only available route to them.

They even alleged that all these encroachments are coming up in collusion with the CDA’s own staff who encourage and even provide protection these members of land mafia engaged in gobbling the public land. They said that as all these structures built illegally are constructed at a higher ground level than the road as a result of which water being used by these people occupying these structure is flowing directly onto the road, thus causing damage to the road surface on which big pitfalls and holes have appeared.

“The situation becomes particularly serious whenever there is rain, as most parts of this road gets submerged, at many places almost knee deep under the rain water, causing serious problems for the people travelling through this road. And it becomes even more discomforting after this water dries up, as it leaves a thick layer of fine mud on the road that rises in plumes of dust whenever a vehicle passes through and that happens almost incessantly throughout the day,” they complained.

They also said that as the slush caused after each rain pass through the drainage and sewage system laid by the authority, it gets chocked frequently as a result of which the manholes are overflowing quite frequently, polluting the environment and posing serious health hazards to the people living in the area. These residents have also complained that almost all the people who have encroached upon this public land are using power and water through illegal connections. “As a result of this people who have constructed homes in this area are often faced with water shortage and frequent power breakdowns because of short circuits in these illegal power connections. We, the tax payers, have been suffering at the hands of the illegal acts of these encroachers who, in the end, will be causing even greater problem to the CDA itself when the authority will try to regain the possession of this land occupied by these people,” they said.

When contacted, the CDA Director (Enforcement) Capt ® Faiz Mohammad, told ‘The News’ that the authority had conducted anti-encroachment operations against these illegal occupants of CDA’s acquired land in the past as well and a big action is being contemplated at the moment in coordination with the Islamabad administration and Islamabad Police. “We are well aware of these problems and its intensity. In the past whenever we launched an operation against these people our efforts were interrupted because of non-cooperation from the concerned government departments like the Islamabad administration and the Islamabad Police and at times the people with political influence came in the way,” the Director (Enforcement) told ‘The News’. However, he added, this time the authority is planning a major operation to remove these encroachments because these are all illegal occupations in violation of the CDA’s rules and the land is already acquired by the CDA, as such these people would have no claim for any sort of compensation.

He pointed out that this problem exists in the area since the last almost 14 years when these shops and stores were set up by the people who were supplying construction material to the people who were constructing their homes in these sectors.

“However, now when the development of the next sectors is about to start, we have to remove these encroachments and that would be done through a major anti-encroachment operation that is being planned in coordination with the ICT administration and the police,” he added.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=179780