Summertime blues: Galiyat businessmen say encroachment drive untimely
Claim they are being deprived of livelihood before tourists descend on valley.
Owners have been ordered to demolish the encroached spaces voluntarily within seven days. PHOTO: FILE/FAZAL KHALIQ
ABBOTABAD:
As the tourist season is about to kick off, businessmen in Galiyat are accusing the district administration and elected representatives of depriving them of their source of livelihood with ‘untimely’ anti-encroachment drives.
Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, Sardar Khursheed and Sardar Sajjad, generalstore owners in Mochi Dhara Bazaar, Nathiagali, said authorities had marked over 150 shops, 70 eateries and two mosques for destruction. They added owners had been ordered to demolish the encroached spaces voluntarily within seven days.
After they had been served notices, store owners said they met with their MNA, Murtaza Javed Abbasi – who is also the deputy speaker in the National Assembly – and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Sardar Muhammad Idrees as well as other local leaders. They were informed that all shopkeepers in Nathiagali, Mochi Dhara, Donga Gali and other areas along the Murree-Abbottabad Road had been leased the land they are now occupying by the relevant authorities.
“Now the Frontier Highways Authority and Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) have changed their minds and are destroying our livelihood in the name of widening the roads,” said Sajjad, adding many local businessmen have pleaded with the authorities to launch the drive in the off-season since they only have this time period to earn a living when tourists from across Pakistan flock to the scenic valleys.
Sajjad claimed both the deputy speaker and MPA from the area had promised them that the anti-encroachment drive would not be launched during the summer.
“We have been cheated and hundreds of workers in the tourism industry have been rendered jobless,” said a shopkeeper, Muhammad Riaz, adding that they could have started the operation two months ago instead and given them enough time to rebuild their shops.
Another affected businessman, Naeem Sardar, says Nathiagali has been reduced to rubble and now they must find masons and labourers to rebuild everything from scratch. Sardar added that the daily rate charged by masons has increased from Rs700 to Rs1,200, while rates for labourers have gone from Rs400 to Rs800 per day.
Sohail Asghar, the owner of a handicraft shop in Nathiagali Bazaar, accused the administration of discrimination. Pointing towards a five-storey under-construction hotel near Mochi Dhara, Asghar claimed the authorities involved have spared big shots and made scapegoats of small shops and eatery owners. He added the owner of the hotel was politically influential and had been given a free hand to flagrantly violate the building code of Galiyat, which he said allows only three-storey buildings.
According to Abbottabad Assistant Commissioner (AC) Osama Ahmed Warraich, authorities have had four to eight feet of cemented portions of eateries, guesthouses and shops demolished on roadsides of Donga Gali, Khera Gali, Nathiagali, Toheedabad, Kundla, Moorti and Kooza Gali in the last six days. Most of the encroachments, he added, were demolished by occupants voluntarily.
He said roads were initially being cleared of encroachment measuring 45 feet outside the towns, and 25 feet within town limits. The AC denied that the authorities were exercising discrimination, adding the operation would continue irrespective of the political or economic status of encroachers until government land is reclaimed.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2014.
As the tourist season is about to kick off, businessmen in Galiyat are accusing the district administration and elected representatives of depriving them of their source of livelihood with ‘untimely’ anti-encroachment drives.
Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, Sardar Khursheed and Sardar Sajjad, generalstore owners in Mochi Dhara Bazaar, Nathiagali, said authorities had marked over 150 shops, 70 eateries and two mosques for destruction. They added owners had been ordered to demolish the encroached spaces voluntarily within seven days.
After they had been served notices, store owners said they met with their MNA, Murtaza Javed Abbasi – who is also the deputy speaker in the National Assembly – and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Sardar Muhammad Idrees as well as other local leaders. They were informed that all shopkeepers in Nathiagali, Mochi Dhara, Donga Gali and other areas along the Murree-Abbottabad Road had been leased the land they are now occupying by the relevant authorities.
“Now the Frontier Highways Authority and Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) have changed their minds and are destroying our livelihood in the name of widening the roads,” said Sajjad, adding many local businessmen have pleaded with the authorities to launch the drive in the off-season since they only have this time period to earn a living when tourists from across Pakistan flock to the scenic valleys.
Sajjad claimed both the deputy speaker and MPA from the area had promised them that the anti-encroachment drive would not be launched during the summer.
“We have been cheated and hundreds of workers in the tourism industry have been rendered jobless,” said a shopkeeper, Muhammad Riaz, adding that they could have started the operation two months ago instead and given them enough time to rebuild their shops.
Another affected businessman, Naeem Sardar, says Nathiagali has been reduced to rubble and now they must find masons and labourers to rebuild everything from scratch. Sardar added that the daily rate charged by masons has increased from Rs700 to Rs1,200, while rates for labourers have gone from Rs400 to Rs800 per day.
Sohail Asghar, the owner of a handicraft shop in Nathiagali Bazaar, accused the administration of discrimination. Pointing towards a five-storey under-construction hotel near Mochi Dhara, Asghar claimed the authorities involved have spared big shots and made scapegoats of small shops and eatery owners. He added the owner of the hotel was politically influential and had been given a free hand to flagrantly violate the building code of Galiyat, which he said allows only three-storey buildings.
According to Abbottabad Assistant Commissioner (AC) Osama Ahmed Warraich, authorities have had four to eight feet of cemented portions of eateries, guesthouses and shops demolished on roadsides of Donga Gali, Khera Gali, Nathiagali, Toheedabad, Kundla, Moorti and Kooza Gali in the last six days. Most of the encroachments, he added, were demolished by occupants voluntarily.
He said roads were initially being cleared of encroachment measuring 45 feet outside the towns, and 25 feet within town limits. The AC denied that the authorities were exercising discrimination, adding the operation would continue irrespective of the political or economic status of encroachers until government land is reclaimed.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 21st, 2014.