Johar Town becomes a hub of illegal constructions

LAHORE:Johar Town has become a hub of illegal constructions where building bylaws are not followed and most of main roads have been converted into commercial zones against the rules.

Due to its strategic location as being in the middle of the City, Johar Town has become one of posh localities of the City and almost every big and small brand has opened its outlets in this area. Big malls and shopping centres have also emerged in the locality resulting in traffic congestion, jams, air pollution and other civic issues.

In the recent past, a large number of teahouses and restaurants opened in the area while a number of high-rise buildings were also under construction.

The main boulevard of Johar Town starting from Allah Ho Chowk and ending at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital Trust (SKMHT) is a frozen road, which means no new construction can take place on this road while no change in any building can be done but in reality the entire road is full of commercial buildings, teahouses, restaurants and other commercial buildings.

Citizens say the LDA’s main office was also situated on the same road and the LDA DG and the top management of the authority including the Chief Town Planner (CTP) travel on this road daily but without taking notice of these commercial buildings.

The citizens wonder how the frozen road has been turned into a major commercial zone and why an action was not taken to stop their construction and why these buildings are being converted into commercial ones.

A survey of the area revealed that plot amalgamation, illegal land use conversion, unavailability of parking, use of designated parking places for commercial purposes, commercial activities without approval, encroachments on roads were some of the common offences being made in Johar Town openly.

The road leading to Canal from Shadiwal Chowk was also turned into a full commercial zones with multi-storey plazas, some of them are still under-construction. Samsani Road was turned into a market of car repairing shops and big and small businesses related to car repairs, denting and painting and workshops were established. This road was also a residential road but was changing into a commercial zone very rapidly. Recently, LDA started a drive against parking and encroachments in Johar Town and sealed many shops and business outlets but on Monday a number of sealed businesses opened their premises without taking any approval from the authority.

When contacted, LDA Director Town Planning Ali Nusrat said he was recently transferred to this zone and he has submitted applications for registration of criminal cases against those involved in illegal constructions under LDA Act in Wafaqi Colony Police Station.

Meanwhile, Commissioner and LDA DG Muhammad Ali Randhawa also took a notice of the situation and ordered filing cases for violating the rules and de-sealing the properties sealed by the LDA in Johar Town by the owners and management themselves.

The commissioner ordered ensuring legal actions against all the violators. He said crackdowns against non-allocation of parking spaces and encroachments will continue across the city without discrimination.