13 Upper Mall properties sealed

LAHORE :Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has sealed 13 properties in the posh locality of Upper Mall for illegal commercial activities on Monday.
Officials said some days back, the LDA Commercialization Wing had identified 32 buildings on Upper Mall including a motel, office of a renowned NGO and premises of a foreign language institute for illegal commercial activities. They said illegal commercial activities were going on for the past many years on the premises, resulting in over Rs 150 million loss to the national exchequer annually.
Sources in the LDA Commercialization Wing revealed that notices were served on the premises of the 32 properties, which were being used for commercial purposes for the past many years but no tax or commercialization fees were paid by them to LDA. On Monday, a special team raided at the area and sealed 13 premises including property number 321, 239, 08, 272-A, 144, 105-A, 134-A, 156-C, 179-A, 225, 258, 166 and 6.
A complete list of 32 illegal commercial properties was prepared by LDA’s Commercialization Wing and available with The News revealed illegal commercial activities at plots 1-7C , 27, 27-A, 8, 14-C, 289-A, 294-A, 321, 223-A, 227, 239, 166, 144 ,140-A, 156-C-1, 155, 9-C, 9, 259-B, 111, 159, 208, 272-A, 105-A, 175-A, 134-A, 179-A, 156-C, 225 and 258.
Talking to The News, LDA Director Commercialization Iqbal Farid said that similar drives would soon be carried out in the localities of Gulberg, Johar Town and other areas. He said at least Rs 150 million of commercialization tax was being evaded annually by the 32 properties. He said the LDA was collecting data of many other localities where corporate offices were working secretly and without paying commercialization fees to LDA.