By By Ali Raza
The ‘much-hyped’ drive of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) against encroachments and installation of illegal gates in various city localities has silently ended and it seemed that the authority has succumbed to political and other pressures.
The main motive behind the drive was to clear the roads, lanes and streets, which were denying right of way to the public. The authority has also taken the nod of the high-ups in the Punjab government before kicking of the drive.
The areas coming under the direct control of the authority include Green Town, Township, Gulberg, Johar Town, Faisal Town, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Gujjarpura, Tajpura, Allama Iqbal Town and different blocks in Model Town Extension.
Before launching the drive, the LDA carried out a rough survey of the city in which it was revealed that none of the localities coming under its control were free of illegal gates and barriers. The LDA has also urged the residents of its schemes for voluntarily removing all encroachments without further delay, failing which they will have to pay the demolition charges as well.
Finally, on December 11, 2008, the LDA launched its drive against encroachments and illegal gates and Allama Iqbal Town was the first locality where the LDA teams started demolishing illegal gates and barriers. The LDA teams demolished over 250 gates and barriers from different blocks of Allama Iqbal Town only in a week’s time. Besides Allama Iqbal Town, the LDA teams had also removed a number of gates in Bhatti Colony, Model Town Link Road.
As soon as the LDA launched this drive, it received a very positive response from the public. A senior LDA official seeking anonymity said majority of people appreciated the authority for taking this step. He said the authority had already received hundreds of complaints against installation of gates and barriers from time to time. He said LDA was dealing with such encroachments under sections 33, 34 and 40 of LDA Act, 1975. He said that the Lahore High Court had also stopped the installation of gates on roads, any barriers and construction of walls blocking entry from one society to another.
The LDA bosses then decided to expand the ongoing drive in Gulshan-e-Ravi but they forgot that it was the constituency of Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Mashood and PML-N Lahore President Mian Marghoob Ahmed.
Sources in LDA claimed that some days back the LDA demolishing staff and machinery reached Gulshan-e-Ravi to start its operation against illegal gates, barriers and other encroachments but its authorities started receiving phone calls of ‘influential’ people and finally the operation was postponed for an indefinite period.
Various residents of different housing schemes including Gulshan-e-Ravi said that these structures were causing impediments in movement by pedestrians, flow of traffic and especially plying of ambulances and vehicles of other emergency services in their localities. They said they have filed numerous applications in past for clearance of roads but no action was taken.
Faisal Sheikh, a resident of Gulshan-e-Ravi said earlier the citizens always blamed the LDA for not launching any drives but when the authority started the drive, politicians stopped it. He said one could witness hundreds of such gates and barriers in Gulshan-e-Ravi alone and residents of different blocks have to cover extra distance to reach their homes due to these gates.
LDA officials also believed that installation of gates on roads and barriers and construction of walls blocking entry from one society to another was an illegal activity and was also banned by the Lahore High Court in past. However, there are several localities where this practice is going on unchecked. Model Town Society (MTS) is on top of the list as it closes all its roads in the night except two entrances. Other societies included Wapda Town, NESPAK, Canal View, TECH Society, PCSIR, Gulshan-e-Lahore, Nasheman-e-Iqbal, EME Society, Valencia Housing Society and etc which have blocked entry of public into their area by closing gates in the name of security. Khalid, a resident of Model Town Flats strongly criticized the government for its failure over the issue and said thousands of people were living in S, Q and R blocks of Model Town Extension, Pindi Rajputan, Thalla flats and other private colonies and all of them were deprived of right of the way. “Under which law the government has allowed MTS to block the entry of these thousands of people,” he questioned.
On the other hand, the Model Town Society administration believed that the move was initiated on the request of the MTS residents because MTS has turned into a passage for other societies. They said four main entry and exit points of MTS have been left open for public after 7 pm and anyone could pass through the MTS through these points.
When contacted, Ahmed Ghazali, Additional Director General of LDA who was officially supervising the anti-encroachment drive refused to comment over the situation. Director General LDA Shahid Mehmood while talking with The News said that the drive was not stopped due to any political influence. He said the drive was suspended due to technical reasons and would be started soon.