Flouting the law: Action against agro-farm owners on cards

Owners told to comply with CDA rules; same threat last year saw no action taken.

ISLAMABAD:

After failing to curb the flagrant misuse of agricultural farms by influential people last year, the civic authorities have once again decided to repeat the same exercise. But, how effective the exercise against the bigwigs, remains to be seen, as the owners, including retired military officers, bureaucrats and parliamentarians, are well-connected.

In what seems to be turning into an annual ritual, the Capital Development Authority (CDA)’s building control directorate issued a notification just before Eid asking the owners of poultry and vegetable farms in the federal capital to comply with the terms of their allotment and the Islamabad Residential Sectors and Zoning Regulations 2005 within 15 days or face the music.

As per law, at least 80 per cent of the land allocated for an agro-farm has to be kept for growing vegetables and fruits to meet the rising demands of the city.  The produce from the land must be sold at reduced rates in weekly bazaars.

Unfortunately, most of the owners of agro-farms are violating CDA regulations, according to the building control directorate’s notification.

“Most of the owners of the poultry and vegetable farms (Agro Farming Schemes) have enhanced the covered areas beyond the allowable limits,” the notification stated, indicating that the farm owners have constructed structures on more than 20 per cent of the land.

The notification also acknowledged that “a number of plots” in the agro-farm schemes fall under non-conforming use.

Some of these farms have been converted into bungalows, and even palatial mansions, restaurants and marriage halls, which is a clear breach of the CDA rules.

Non-compliance with the bylaws within 15 days would lead to the demolition or removal of the non-conforming facilities, CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said told The Express Tribune.

He said the non-compliance of agro-farm owners could also ultimately lead to cancellation of allotment of their plots.

Back in 2011, during a Supreme Court hearing on nonconforming use of agro-farms, then-CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi told the court that 80 per cent of the farms in and around Islamabad were being used for residential and commercial purposes in violation of the bylaws.

Despite the apex court’s order to submit a report on the misuse of the more than 600 agro-farms in the capital, the CDA faced difficulties in getting comprehensive information on the farms due to reported resistance from influential farm owners, among whom are leading businesspersons, journalists, lawyers, military officials, and a host of current and former parliamentarians including ministers, prime ministers and presidents.

The CDA’s operation to take legal action against farm owners in violation of the rules also reportedly ran out of steam soon after the civic agency issued show-cause notices to the violators in 2011.

Now, the new CDA Chairman Tahir Shahbaz has launched a fresh initiative to take the farm owners to task. In an interview with the Express Tribune recently, Shahbaz said non-conforming use of agro-farms is one of the land and estate management problems the CDA is facing and the proper use of these farms could generate revenue for the civic agency.

“In addition to the general notice from the building control directorate, the CDA surveys the agro-farms and issues notices to farm owners in violation of the regulations,” Sajid said. However, he wasn’t sure how many violators made any efforts to comply after the notices.

The spokesperson said the CDA is committed to the task of stopping the misuse of agro-farms, but it remains to be seen whether the CDA will take any real measures against the violators this time around.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2012.