Environment-friendly: High court stays plaza’s construction on green belt

Petitioners claim the structure would destroy age-old trees and damage natural course for rainwater.

ABBOTABAD:

The Abbottabad bench of Peshawar High Court on Wednesday issued a stay order against the construction of a plaza by the cantonment board. A district judge had passed a similar order last week, prohibiting the plaza’s construction on a green belt.

Sardar Noman Rasheed, a resident of Abbottabad, along with other social activists had filed a petition asking PHC to bar Cantonment Board Abbottabad (CBA) from constructing the plaza on a water course on Pine View Road.

The petitioners, through their counsel Zafar Iqbal, contended that Pine View Road is one of the famous green belts of Abbottabad that features dozens of centuries-old pine, camphor and other trees of rare species and also serves as a popular walking track. Through the petition, they informed the court that CBA has started spadework on a double-storey plaza which is, according to their information, being constructed on a 50-feet wide watercourse that carries water from Malikpur and surrounding localities of the city during rainfall.

The petitioners told the court that CBA has started digging foundations for the structure, chopping off about half a dozen trees already and planned to clear over 400 more. They said the project would obstruct the natural course of rainwater and expose surrounding localities to health and other risks.

In support of their plea, the petitioners cited the Cantonment Act, 1925 which prohibits commercial structures within residential areas and if needed, the consent of the general public is necessary for such construction. They also referred a letter from GHQ, Rawalpindi’s lands department dated May 25, 1989, which also bars authorities from carrying out commercial activities within residential areas. They further accused CBA of violating directives of the Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1997, adding that the project would deprive the city of a green belt and expose the environment to harm.

Moreover, the petitioners accused Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s leader Ali Asghar Khan of destroying the green area around his bungalow on the same road and made him a party to the case along with the CBA chief executive officer, Hazara commissioner, EPA’s provincial director general, Abbottabad deputy commissioner and the forest department.

A single bench comprising Justice Seth Waqar issued the stay order against the construction and sent notices to all the parties to submit their replies by March 25.

CBA chief Omar Farooq was not available for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2014.