Owners of 10 illegal societies booked in Pindi

Red notices issued to 34 illegal housing societies in Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI: Cases have been lodged against owners of 10 illegal housing societies in Rawalpindi while red notices have been issued to some 34 societies. Challans have been issued to some 25 societies.

This was disclosed by the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Metropolitan Planning and Traffic Engineering director on Friday.

In addition to the direct action against illegal housing societies across the district, the RDA official said that they have written to authorities of the investigation and regulatory authorities such as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), and even the State Bank to launch investigations, block advertisements and to freeze accounts of these societies respectively.

The official added that RDA had strictly warned all illegal housing schemes in the district not to launch residential schemes, apartment blocks or even commercial buildings within its jurisdiction without first obtaining the requisite no-objection certificate (NOC) and other documents from the authority.

“Marketing and development by private companies of such projects are illegal,” the official said.

Furthermore, he urged the public not to invest in such illegal housing schemes. RDA also urged sponsors to immediately stop marketing for all unapproved and illegal housing schemes otherwise, severe legal action will be taken against them.

Guesthouses for quarantine

Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister on Tourism Asif Mehmood has announced that all rest houses located across Punjab will be made available to the government to set up quarantine centres given the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The provincial adviser on tourism told The Express Tribune that they have 11 rest houses in Punjab which have been handed over to the health ministry. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 21^st, 2020.