Peaceful, tranquil environment in Nathiagali has, in recent years, been destroyed by rampant, unchecked construction.
NATHIAGALI: We invested our life savings and bought a plot in Nathiagali some years ago. After that, we built our own house there and this labour of love took around three years. Now, every year, for around six months or so, we spend our time in this green and generally clean part of Pakistan, almost 9,000 feet above sea level. Unfortunately, the peaceful and tranquil environment in Nathiagali has, in recent years, been more or less destroyed by rampant and unchecked construction of houses by people from the cities of Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi.
That wouldn’t be an issue, since people have the right to build a home as they see fit, but the problem is that the majority of these buildings are being constructed in clear violation of the local building by-laws and code of the Galiyat Development Authority (GDA). Some of us, who have homes in Nathiagali, and who have always abided by the local rules and regulations, have made several complaints to the GDA but to no avail. The reason is clear: the local GDA officials, whose job it is to check such violations, are in all likelihood looking the other way and it should be clear why they are doing that.
With a new government in place in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, led by a party whose chairman’s main motto is to fight and eliminate corruption, could we ask that it hold the GDA accountable and ensure that it carries out its responsibility in an honest manner?
Ahmed Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2013.
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