Land grab bid by influential figures worries residents

HARIPUR:

Residents of Kanagra Colony in Haripur have raised concerns over alleged attempts by influential individuals, in collaboration with local revenue staff, to commercialise park spaces.

Despite being aware of the Peshawar High Court's ruling, these individuals allegedly secure commissions to facilitate illegal allotments.

According to the Peshawar High Court's Abbottabad Bench, no individual can obtain residential or commercial plots in public parks and any attempt to acquire such plots through collusion would result in contempt of court charges against violators.

As per sources, 1,297 kanals of land were acquired in 1974 at Kanagra Colony for the resettlement of Tarbela Dam affectees.

During this time, five and ten marla plots were allocated to residents at the cost of Rs403 and Rs806, respectively, per plot.

Additionally, 1.25 marla was deducted from each ten-marla plot to allocate space for parks, schools, hospitals, and cemeteries.

However, the cemetery in Kanagra Colony's Sector 1 is not public but privately owned by the residents, resulting in a reduced plot size of 240 square yards (60x40 feet).

In contrast, in Khalabat Township, the largest settlement of Tarbela Dam affectees, no such deductions were made, and the standard ten marla plot size is 272 square yards.

In Khalabat, WAPDA provided the community with a cemetery and a single park.