Service roads adjoining mall made passable again

CDA demolishes encroachment on Supreme Court’s order

ISLAMABAD: The apex court on Tuesday ordered the district to clear all service roads adjoining the large shopping mall in Sector F-8 from encroachment.

Just hours after the directive was issued, the Works Department of the civic authority started demolishing the encroachment on the service road.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by acting Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed, on Tuesday, heard a case pertaining to the encroachment of public roads in the federal capital.

During the proceedings, Justice Ahmed asked the Capital Development Authority (CDA) about the measures it had taken against encroachment, particularly the ones outside the Centaurus Shopping Mall which had usurped the service lanes.

CDA Chairman Amir Ahmed Ali, who had appeared before the court, stated that they will conduct an operation on Wednesday to remove them.

At this, Justice Ahmed remarked why was the operation not conducted on Monday.

He went on to ask why the federal capital had been expanded while commercial and industrial zones were established in it.

“Are you willing to convert Islamabad into Peshawar or Lahore?” Justice Ahmed asked, adding that a new city should be formed for commercial and industrial purposes.

He added that the CDA was unable to control the city.

“All the authority’s officials have been sleeping,” he remarked.

Responding to the rebuke, the CDA chairman assured the court that action against negligent officials will be taken.

Justice Ahmed went on to observe that the service road was a public property which has been converted into a private enterprise after the installation of a gate by the mall administration.

“How much would you charge from the mall which did this for ten years?” Justice Ahmed asked. To this, the CDA chairman responded that they were still trying to calculate that figure.

The civic authority’s chief, who also holds the post of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) chief commissioner, went on to tell the court that encroachment across the city has been identified for demolition.

However, the CDA chief then stunned the court by stating that he could not trust his staff.

Explaining further measures to identify encroachment in the federal capital, the CDA chief said that they will soon enter into an agreement with the Space Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) to obtain satellite images to identify encroachment in the city.

Justice Ahmed, though, lamented that this was not the same Islamabad as it was 20 years ago.

The court directed CDA to conduct an operation to remove the encroachment outside the mall and present a report before the court on Friday.

CDA starts operation

Just hours after the top court’s directive to remove encroachment outside the mall, the CDA chairman and members of its board reviewed the authority’s anti-encroachment drive.

In view of the apex court’s directives, the meeting directed to expedite the anti-encroachment drive.

CDA Works director general was tasked with ensuring that violations on the right-of-way should be cleared within 48 hours.  In this context, major roads such as the Margalla Road, Nazimuddin Road — adjoining the mall, and IJ Principal Road should be carried out immediately.

Subsequently, the CDA demolished illegal structures and other encroachment made by the management of the mall to clear the right-of-way. Moreover, the CDA said that it was calculating the penalty which will be levied on the mall management for illegally using the government land.

Moreover, an anti-encroachment drive on the right-of-way of Grand Trunk Road in Rawat-and Tarnol areas should also be executed expeditiously.

Similarly, violations outside plot marking are to be removed as well and in this context, encroachers were issued public notices. If any violation persists and owners fail to move the encroachment, the meeting directed to remove these.

In this regard, the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA), under the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC), was told to withdraw any permission which may have been issued without prior approval from the CDA’s Planning Wing, noting that any such permission would be considered as illegal.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2019.