I-11 squatter settlements: NA panel sets Feb 10 new deadline for eviction

CDA still hoping for amicable settlement; residents adamant to stay.


Our Correspondent February 01, 2013
Despite the CDA’s position on land compensation, some locals demanded to be given alternative land to build on, similar to Alipur Farash.

ISLAMABAD:


A parliamentary panel has set February 10 as the new deadline for the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to clear the squatter settlement in Sector I-11.


Talking to The Express Tribune on Friday, CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said the January 15 deadline for the removal of the squatters was missed because the agency was focused on Tahirul Qadri’s sit-in in Jinnah Avenue.

“The issue has once again been referred to the National Assembly Sub-committee on the Cabinet Secretariat, which will give a final deadline for the eviction of residents of the katchi abadi,” he said.

He said the residents of the katchi abadi should vacate the area at all costs voluntarily as they have illegally occupied it.

“We had asked them to voluntarily vacate the 1,200 plots by January 5 as we want to resolve the issue amicably and are still trying to convince them to shift to rented accommodation as most of them can afford it,” he added.

Responding to a question, he said that if the CDA provided them with low income housing, it would set a precedent and people in other squatter colonies in the capital will also demand the same. He clarified that the CDA was only looking after katchi abadis that existed prior to 1985.

However, the residents of the katchi abadi vow to resist any action to remove them from the houses they have been living in for the last two decades. Some suggested that they will move the courts, hoping to have the decision overruled.

“I have been living in this house since 1992. I raised its structure and regularly make monthly payments to CDA officials. How can they dislodge me from my house?” questioned Zafran Gul, 59, a resident of Mohmand Agency.

He said they have been taxed by the CDA for every wall raised.

“We cannot live in rented accommodations as our incomes are so meagre and irregular that we can hardly make their ends meet,” said Muhammad Irfan, 28, who runs a stall at the nearby fruit and vegetable market and claims he was born in the settlement.

Despite the CDA’s position on land compensation, some locals demanded to be given alternative land to build on, similar to Alipur Farash.

They appealed to the Supreme Court and parliamentarians from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas to intervene and force the CDA to allot plots to them.

Almost 8,000 people live in the settlement.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2013.

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