Bureaucrats out to get Banigala encroachments regularised

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court’s notice of irregularities, encroachments and illegal occupations of precious land of Banigala in Islamabad has created a hope that environmental conditions will improve after the occupied land around the important Rawal Lake will be recovered. However, baboos seem to have a different game plan.

During the hearings of the Banigala lands case, it was pleaded that now population of the area has grown in tens of thousands and thus it is not possible to get whole area vacated. However, in the garb of this argument, certain baboos want to get occupied state land regularised during the hearing of this important case at the apex court.

Illegal construction on the brink of Rawal Lake by some powerful and mighty land grabbers has been a source of serious concern for the inhabitants of federal capital as well as for the environmental protection agencies and organization. However, not only illegal constructions were allowed on private lands across the Banigala area but even the state owned land around the Rawal Lake was occupied by land grabbers who also constructed huge buildings, marriage halls and even houses in Lakhwal village of the Banigala area. Concerned authorities remained conveniently silent.

Occupation of state in Banigala was declared illegal by different courts but at no point of time any operation was launched to get the occupied land vacated. A small dam has been constructed on the Rawal Lake known as Rawal Dam which provides water to a big population. Office of the Project Director Small Dams Organization, Islamabad (Rawal Dam) has written many times to the authorities for an operation to demolish illegal constructions and get the precious state land vacated but to no avail. The illegal constructions are also damaging environment badly. Different courts, including the Islamabad High Court, have declared the occupation of state land around Rawal Lake in Bani Gal as illegal but concerned authorities are unmoved.

Small Dams Organisation, Islamabad, in its letter No. PD/SDO/2018/1585-87 RWD dated March 7, 2018 wrote to the Islamabad administration and police as follows; “This is in continuation to this office letter No. PD/SD0/2018/451/Rwd, dated, 18-01-2018 and No. PD/S00/2018/1064-69/RWD, dated 13.02.2018. The Executive Engineer, Small Dams Division, Islamabad of this Organization vide his letter No. EE/SDD/2018/701-08/28-M, dated, 01.03.2018 has informed that a civil revision was filed by the encroachers vide C.R.No. 39/2018 before the Islamabad High Court, Islamabad against the judgment / order dated. 02.02.2018 passed by the Additional District Judge, Islamabad but the honorable Islamabad High Court Islamabad has dismissed the same being without merit. Hence, in order to retrieve the state land by demolishing 02 buildings recently build illegal houses beside Rawal Lake over the land administratively under jurisdiction of ICT. Islamabad, an operation may be planned immediately. In view of above it is requested that 2 buildings recently build …. on state land pertaining to Government of the Punjab but falling under the administrative jurisdiction of ICT, Islamabad may kindly be got demolished immediately in coordination and collaboration with the concerned it departments/ authorities so that the state land could be retrieved as early as possible.”

This shows that despite court orders and despite the same case being heard in the apex court, the concerned authorities are unmoved to get the occupied state land vacated. Now after presenting an excuse of spread of big number of population, instead of regularising any minor irregularities, baboos are planning to get even the occupied state land regularised by misleading the apex court during the proceedings of the present case.