Building by-laws: Residents assail LDA for lack of enforcement

Welfare society says plots, houses being divided into smaller units

LAHORE: The Tehreek-i-Amal Welfare Society (TAWS), a cooperative of Samanabad residents, criticised the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) on Saturday for failing to stop commercialisation of residential areas.

Khalil Ahmad, the society president, said that investors and builders were violating building by-laws with the help of some LDA staff. “We have sent an application to the LDA director general about how Samanabad is being rapidly converted into a slum through the negligence of the authority. Some builders are buying properties and converting them into smaller plots and houses in violation of by-laws,” he said.

Ahmad said that Samanabad was one of the oldest residential colonies registered with the LDA. “It was developed in the 1950s. However, now it has lost its original beauty. Nearly half of the properties have been divided into plots ranging from two to five marlas. Most of these have not been issued completion certificates,” he said.“In addition, rapid commercialisation of residential areas has ruined the peaceful atmosphere of the neighbourhood. Some of the builders have illegally built shops and markets in residential blocks.

In Sabzazar or Gulshan-i-Ravi, the situation is better,” he said.LDA spokesman Sohail Janjua said that converting a property into smaller units was a violation of LDA regulations. “Earlier, property owners were allowed to sell a one kanal property by dividing it into two 10-marla units.

However, the rule has been changed. Now, only a two-kanal or bigger plot can be converted into one kanal units,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2015.