Illegal constructions creep in city

Official apathy main hurdle in dealing with problem

LAHORE:

There has been a mushrooming of illegal constructions in the Metropolitan Corporation of Lahore, and, ironically, the town planning officers seem to have turned a blind eye to this development.

Just how grave the situation is can be gauged by the fact that out of the 445 buildings identified by an initial survey to have been constructed illegally, only three buildings have been demolished. Others, the overwhelming majority, have simply been issued notices and that’s all. No other action against them appears to be on the cards for the time being.

A few other buildings were partially demolished so that they could be officially referred to as examples of work being done.

Buildings constructed against the bylaws have become a challenge for the Punjab government as well as for the Local Government Department.

Despite the restoration of the local government system, the zonal officers have remained unperturbed over the whole matter, even choosing not responding to the lists sent to them for “verification” of illegal buildings.

Construction activities in Lahore are growing proportionately to the growth of population in the city. What is missing, however, is proper regulation of the construction activities, namely, the task of preventing illegal construction.

As this write-up has referred to the matter in question above as well, due to the alleged “lack of interest” by the town planning officers of the Metropolitan Corporation Lahore and their alleged “collusion with the mafia”, illegal constructions are on the rise across the city, destroying the beauty of the city.

Despite complaints from citizens, no action was taken by the concerned agency.

According to the survey, the highest number of illegal constructions are 69 in Nishtar Zone, followed by Samanabad with 65 and Dataganj Bakhsh Zone with 65 buildings and 57 in Ravi Zone, while 50 and 51 illegal constructions have been identified in Wagah zone and Aziz Bhatti zones respectively, while 47 in Shalimar zone, 13 in Gulberg zone and 28 buildings in Allama Iqbal zone have been declared illegal and about half-a-dozen buildings were demolished, but 78 buildings were partially demolished.

Fifty-five buildings have been sealed. Although notices were issued to the owners of 442 illegal buildings, yet no action has been taken.

This year, the target for maps of buildings in the Metropolitan Corporation Lahore has been set at Rs215 million. So far, the ratio of recovery from this stands at 42 percent only.

Local Government Secretary Noorul Amin Mengal issued orders to demolish illegal buildings across the city on the complaints of citizens. Some of them were demolished but officials allegedly saved most.

On the orders of the Supreme Court, the Local Bodies Secretary revived the local bodies, after which Lahore Mayor Colonel (retd) Mubashir Javed, in a recent survey across the city, sought a report from all the Zonal Town Planning Officers regarding illegal buildings.

However, the officials have not responded yet due to which the operation against illegal constructions has been stopped.

In this regard, the mayor said strict action would be taken against illegal constructions. A new survey of illegal constructions has been initiated across the city.

Notices are being issued to the buildings that have been constructed to demolish the constructions themselves and action is being taken on a daily basis against illegal buildings which are being constructed.

A building was demolished on Wednesday. He further said the local body system was restored on the orders of the Supreme Court and officers were posted, but the order issued by the Election Commission to withdraw these orders was wrong.

“No institution in Pakistan is bigger than the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Such steps are being taken to harass elected local body representatives,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2021.