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Sunday February 09, 2025

Punjab’s living space problem

Mushroom growth of housing societies has claimed tens of thousands of acres or possibly millions of acres over decade

By Abdul Sattar
January 20, 2025
People throng a market area in Lahore. — AFP/File
People throng a market area in Lahore. — AFP/File

With over 241.49 million people, Pakistan has one of the highest population growth rates in the world, despite witnessing a slight slowing down over the decades. Its population stood at 132.35 million and 207.68 million in 1998 and 2017 respectively with an average annual growth rate of 2.69 per cent and 2.40 per cent for the two censuses held during the decades of the 1990s and 2010s.

According to the 2023 census, the population growth rate was 2.55 per cent. Attempts to reduce it over the decades have not been very successful with almost all federating units witnessing a rise in head count and a fall in resources. A nefarious propaganda against family planning, lack of awareness and non-serious approach of authorities are among some of the factors contributing to the rise.

This trend is likely to create a number of problems for all provinces in general but it is going to pose a great challenge to Punjab, the most populous province of the country. The population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was 20.92 million in 1998, rising to 35.50 million in 2017 and 40.85 million in 2023, increasing at an average rate of 2.72 per cent, 2.82 per cent and 2.38 per cent respectively. Sindh’s headcount stood at 30.44 million in 1998, 47.85 million in 2017 and 55.69 million in 2023 respectively with an average annual increase of 2.80 per cent, 2.41 per cent and 2.57 per cent.

Although Balochistan witnessed the biggest rise among the provinces in terms of percentage with its population standing at 6.57 million in 1998, 12.34 million in 2017 and 14.89 million in 2023 with an average growth rate of 2.47 per cent, 3.37 per cent and 3.20 per cent, it is not worrisome as the province has a tremendous living space of 347,190 square kilometre comprising 44 per cent of Pakistan’s 881,913 square kilometre total landmass. The real problem lies with Punjab which already has over 127.68 million souls with 205,344 square kilometres, occupying 25.8 per cent of the total landmass of the country. While Balochistan’s population density stands at 12 persons per square kilometer, Punjab’s is thought to be over 600 persons per square kilometre.

This clearly indicates that Punjab is going to witness a terrible living space problem. Some analysts believe it is facing the dilemma that Germany was facing after 1871 and the UK faced after the 16th century. The overcrowded European states managed to send off their people to the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other parts of the world to mitigate the impacts of rising population.

But Punjab has no such option. Despite the fact that regions like Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat, Jhelum and others sent tens of thousands of inhabitants abroad, the province is still grappling with the impacts of rising population and shrinking resources. There is no way it can expand its territorial limits. It is not an imperial power that can export a large section of its manpower to other regions of the world on permanent bases.

Punjab’s urban areas are already brimming with population bulge. Cities like Lahore now seem to be a jungle of human beings with many areas of the second largest city of the country witnessing population spike owing to migration. Punjab’s urban population’s share increased from 31.3 per cent in 1998 to 40.70 per cent in 2023.

The mushroom growth of housing societies has claimed tens of thousands of acres or possibly millions of acres over the decade. Such societies are now even capturing agricultural lands to meet housing demands which has led to shrinking employment opportunities in villages forcing landless peasants to move to urban areas. This is evident in various censuses as well. For instance, the share of rural population was 68.7 per cent in 1998 decreasing to 63.14 per cent and now it is less than 59.30 per cent.

This impacts socio-economic development; Punjab has only 61.88 million literate persons (66 per cent of the population) with female education standing at 60 per cent and male at 72 per cent. The province houses a whopping 9.60 million out-of-school children. Out of 19.85 million households, only 8,895,646 or 44.84 per cent use natural gas for cooking, the majority 9,908,476 or 49.94 per cent still use fire wood while 860,515 or 4.34 per cent resort to igniting fire with animal dung, which is extremely unhealthy for women. In addition to that, only a meagre 10.49 per cent of the population is supplied water from filtration plants, which indicates that the vast majority of the province is bereft of pure drinking water.

If the population rate of Punjab continues at the current pace, over the decade it will be hitting a mark of 254 million. In that case where will the people go? How will they find housing? What methods will be used to create more landmass? How will the province ensure accessibility to pure drinking water, health, education and other amenities? These are crucial questions that seem to have been ignored for decades.

Critics believe the elite of the province need to make sacrifices to address this serious challenge. It is they who have a strange penchant for living in palatial houses. It is the rich who want to have multiple farm houses to spend a few days of the year. It is these people who have been colluding with vested interests to turn large swathes of the province into housing societies that are gulping down agriculture lands besides broadening the gap between the rich and the poor. It is they who are promoting horizontal housing that claims more land and accommodates less people.

Experts believe that the government of Punjab will have to spring in action, addressing this issue on a priority basis. It must find a way to reclaim all lands doled out to various elite housing schemes through compensation or administrative measures. It must cancel tens of thousands of acres of lands sold out at throw away prices in the name of a farm house. Most of these farm houses are nothing but places of entertainment and recreation for a select few. It must come up with a plan to introduce a limit on the size of a home, making sure that it is commensurate with the housing needs of a family.

All future allotments of farm houses and elite housing colonies must be rescinded and the planning should be handed over to government departments to ensure effective use of limited landmass. Horizontal construction should be discouraged or possibly banned altogether and steps must be taken to ensure vertical construction of new housing colonies keeping in view environmental regulations and laws.

Owing to stark class differences, an average rich family of two or three persons is living in a one kanal (500 sq metres) house while an average working-class family comprising seven to nine persons is living in the dungeon of three or four marlas (75-100 sq metres). The rulers can set a precedent by moving into smaller homes that might meet their family needs. One of the reasons prompting people to seek big houses is the number of multiple vehicles. To deal with this situation, heavy taxes should be levied on cars and other vehicles and steps should be taken to encourage the use of public transport.


The writer is a freelance journalist who can be reached at: egalitarianism444@gmail.com