LAHORE: We, the members of Johar Town Welfare Council and residents of Blocks G and E-2 in Johar Town, Lahore, would like to bring to the notice of the interim chief minister (CM) the predicament we are in. There is a piece of land between the above-mentioned blocks clearly marked in the Lahore Development Authority’s (LDA) master plan as a park. There was litigation going on over the purpose for which this land could be used, and in August 2009, the Lahore High Court told the LDA to pay a compensation amount to the former owners of that piece of land and make a park over it for the residents of Johar Town.
The LDA appealed against the decision in the Supreme Court but later withdrew it on the date of the hearing of the case, on July 7, 2011, stating that it would abide by the earlier order given by the LHC.
However, in practice, the LDA did not not move an inch in implementing the high court’s orders. The residents of Johar Town went to every office of the LDA to reverse the situation but it was to no avail. Last month, before the end of the tenure of the assemblies, we were unofficially told that politicians have decided to do some bandar baant of this piece of land.
We request that the interim CM, besides ensuring that free and fair elections take place, also look into this matter and resolve our predicament. The piece of land, meant to be a park, has been converted into a garbage dump and to add to our miseries, the LDA has allowed on it the construction of jhuggies too.
We request the interim CM to arrange an inspection of the area in order to obtain the whole truth about the matter and to take prompt action to oblige around 20,000 residents of the area whose kids have no place to play.
Syed Amjad Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2013.
