Senate panel to visit QAU to see action against encroachments

Islamabad: On January 30, the Senate Standing Committee on Interior will undertake a full-day visit to the QAU to meet the administration, check the estate demarcation and progress on crackdown on encroachments and land grab. The committee recently ordered the CDA and ICT administration to remove all encroachments from the university’s estate.

Ostensibly, things are fast moving towards the recovery of a broad expanse of the Qauid-i-Azam University from illegal occupants, these days.

Last month, Islamabad’s mayor and Capital Development Authority Chairman Sheikh Anser Aziz visited the university, inspected its encroached and grabbed land, and announced the civic agency would help the university reclaim its estate.

There followed the long-awaited visit of the relevant CDA officials to the campus and the subsequent start of an exercise by the CDA and Islamabad Capital Territory administration to demarcate the university’s estate and verify its boundaries on all sides.

The construction of the boundary wall resumed after the CDA removed all objections to it, while the interior ministry after conducting a survey of illegal settlements on the university’s estate is in the process of listing the occupants for action.

According to spokesman Dr Ilhan Niaz, the CDA has commenced anti-encroachment drive on its own land adjacent to the QAU, and a few days ago, it demolished the Bokhari Market.

“A phased operation is under way and Islamabad’s mayor has assured us that there will be no let-up in the operation,” he said.

The spokesman said the QAU with the help of the ICT police had been able to start construction of a new hostel, work on which was impeded by local inhabitants.

He said Islamabad’s mayor had denied the claims of the local inhabitants that the CDA did not pay them the full amount of money for their land.  Dr Ilhan said the university was committed to freeing its land of illegal occupants.