ETPB, commissioner tussle over parking plaza
September 23, 2010
LAHORE
THE Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) and the Lahore division commissioner have locked horns over the construction of a parking plaza as the board wants to complete the project while the commissioner terms it a security risk.
Sources in the ETPB said the board wanted to resume construction of a multi-storey building at one of its vacant plots on Dev Samaj Road while the Lahore division commissioner was not allowing it. The plot measuring 3 Kanal, 7 marlas and 58 Sq Ft bearing Khasra number 2486 belonged to Sir Dayal Singh College Trust and the property vests in the ETPB.
It is situated adjacent to the office of the Lahore division commissioner while other important buildings around this property are Punjab Civil Secretariat, Civil and Family Courts Complex (Aiwan-e-Adl), ETPB Head office, LDA’s building and Election Commission of Pakistan.
Sources in the EPTB said that the plan of constructing a 12-storey parking plaza on this plot was the brainchild of the former ETPB Chairman General Zulfiqar. They said construction on this plot was started during his tenure and a basement was completed.
After the general elections in 2008 the new government removed General Zulfiqar from the seat and ongoing construction work on the structure was stopped. Sources said the ETPB’s new chairman, Asif Hashmi, put the project on his top priority list and resumed the construction work, which was stopped by the town municipal administration Data Town on the pretext that building plan of the plaza was not approved.
Sources said the ETPB chairman took up the matter with the Punjab government and according to Asif Hashmi, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashud told him that Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif had shown his consent to allow the ETPB to construct the plaza.
However, Lahore Additional Commissioner Mirza Mahmood-ul-Hassan, on August 20, 2010, sent a letter captioning “Security threat-under construction building for car parking at Dev Samaj Road, Lahore” to the chairman, ETPB. The letter was also sent to principal secretary to the Punjab chief minister, Lahore DCO, DO (Spatial Planning and Commercialization), Lahore and other authorities concerned. After giving the technical details and ownership of the plot, the letter states, “Construction of parking plaza or any such building to be used for commercial purpose is likely to be a permanent hazard to the security of surrounding government offices. Therefore it is not appropriate to construct any such building at the risk and cost of security of surrounding important government buildings.”
The additional commissioner concluded the letter by saying that in view of the above, he was directed to request that the plot in question may be leased out to the provincial government for extension of government offices at a negotiated price.
ETPB Chairman Asif Hashmi while talking with The News accused that the Punjab government through the City District Government Lahore and its officials was trying to take possession of this prime land but the ETPB would not allow this ‘daylight robbery.’ He said the government machinery was using various tactics, including arrests of labourers and contractor of the site to pressurise the ETPB to lease out the land to it. He said the ETPB was a federal department and Punjab government could not take possession of the land without the consent of the ETPB and federal government.
Answering to a question about the letter of additional commissioner who termed construction of the plaza a security risk, he said the presently abandoned site was a security risk and anyone including terrorists could hide in it. He said rainwater had filled the basement of the plaza which was a security risk for the nearby buildings. He said another real security risk outside the Secretariat was the parking of all kind of vehicles on main Multan Road outside Aiwan-a-Adl. “Why the government is not taking any measures to remove these present security risks,” he questioned. He said the ETPB wanted to construct a 12-storey plaza on the land out of which basement of the plaza and two floors would be used for parking while flats and offices would be constructed on the rest of the floors. When contacted, the Lahore division commissioner was not available for comments.
THE Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) and the Lahore division commissioner have locked horns over the construction of a parking plaza as the board wants to complete the project while the commissioner terms it a security risk.
Sources in the ETPB said the board wanted to resume construction of a multi-storey building at one of its vacant plots on Dev Samaj Road while the Lahore division commissioner was not allowing it. The plot measuring 3 Kanal, 7 marlas and 58 Sq Ft bearing Khasra number 2486 belonged to Sir Dayal Singh College Trust and the property vests in the ETPB.
It is situated adjacent to the office of the Lahore division commissioner while other important buildings around this property are Punjab Civil Secretariat, Civil and Family Courts Complex (Aiwan-e-Adl), ETPB Head office, LDA’s building and Election Commission of Pakistan.
Sources in the EPTB said that the plan of constructing a 12-storey parking plaza on this plot was the brainchild of the former ETPB Chairman General Zulfiqar. They said construction on this plot was started during his tenure and a basement was completed.
After the general elections in 2008 the new government removed General Zulfiqar from the seat and ongoing construction work on the structure was stopped. Sources said the ETPB’s new chairman, Asif Hashmi, put the project on his top priority list and resumed the construction work, which was stopped by the town municipal administration Data Town on the pretext that building plan of the plaza was not approved.
Sources said the ETPB chairman took up the matter with the Punjab government and according to Asif Hashmi, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashud told him that Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif had shown his consent to allow the ETPB to construct the plaza.
However, Lahore Additional Commissioner Mirza Mahmood-ul-Hassan, on August 20, 2010, sent a letter captioning “Security threat-under construction building for car parking at Dev Samaj Road, Lahore” to the chairman, ETPB. The letter was also sent to principal secretary to the Punjab chief minister, Lahore DCO, DO (Spatial Planning and Commercialization), Lahore and other authorities concerned. After giving the technical details and ownership of the plot, the letter states, “Construction of parking plaza or any such building to be used for commercial purpose is likely to be a permanent hazard to the security of surrounding government offices. Therefore it is not appropriate to construct any such building at the risk and cost of security of surrounding important government buildings.”
The additional commissioner concluded the letter by saying that in view of the above, he was directed to request that the plot in question may be leased out to the provincial government for extension of government offices at a negotiated price.
ETPB Chairman Asif Hashmi while talking with The News accused that the Punjab government through the City District Government Lahore and its officials was trying to take possession of this prime land but the ETPB would not allow this ‘daylight robbery.’ He said the government machinery was using various tactics, including arrests of labourers and contractor of the site to pressurise the ETPB to lease out the land to it. He said the ETPB was a federal department and Punjab government could not take possession of the land without the consent of the ETPB and federal government.
Answering to a question about the letter of additional commissioner who termed construction of the plaza a security risk, he said the presently abandoned site was a security risk and anyone including terrorists could hide in it. He said rainwater had filled the basement of the plaza which was a security risk for the nearby buildings. He said another real security risk outside the Secretariat was the parking of all kind of vehicles on main Multan Road outside Aiwan-a-Adl. “Why the government is not taking any measures to remove these present security risks,” he questioned. He said the ETPB wanted to construct a 12-storey plaza on the land out of which basement of the plaza and two floors would be used for parking while flats and offices would be constructed on the rest of the floors. When contacted, the Lahore division commissioner was not available for comments.
