Ban on constructions around Rawal Dam

ISLAMABAD: The city managers banned the construction of structures and settlements around the banks of streams, rivers and drains under section 144 of Code of Criminal procedure.

The decision was taken in light of Supreme Court’s directions to reduce flow of wastage and garbage into Rawal Dam after its water had become polluted because of residential schemes and poultry farms.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry directed Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) to convene an emergency meeting with the Cabinet Division to solve the issue of water pollution.

On Thursday, a meeting was held at the Cabinet Division under Secretary Abdur Rashid Chaudhry, who directed CDA to constitute a new Master Plan in Bara Kahu and Zone 4 to stop the flow of wastage into Rawal Dam, drains and streams.

After attending the meeting, DC Islamabad Aamir Ahmad Ali told The Express Tribune that he had immediately banned all kinds of constructions  on the beds of streams, rivers and drains in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, talking to The Express Tribune, CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said that the city mangers were seriously thinking of installing additional water sanitation plants on the bank of Rawal Dam.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2010.