In Model Town, green spaces are being destroyed in favour of commercial buildings in residential areas -- against the wishes of its population
Model Town, one of the oldest and decidedly most green residential areas of Lahore, is faced with devastation of its indigenous trees in the name of commercialisation. Restaurants and multi-storey commercial structures are being erected, at the cost of the environment, by using the green spaces.
The Model Town Society (MTS) management has allegedly uprooted hundreds of old trees -- some of them as old as 100 years -- at a J-Block nursery which was once known as the ‘Jungle of the society’. Today, it’s a flat and barren piece of land.
The concerned residents of the area say this is "criminal destruction of green nursery" by the MTS; it is against the law and meant just to damage the façade of Model Town. This would affect a peaceful environment in a fully residential zone.
Secretary, Cooperative Model Town Society, in a recently appeared news advert, also sought the Expression of Interest (dated August 26, 2014) with the intention "to lease out an international quality food hub consisting of four restaurants, encompassing a 20-Kanal prime land at Linear Park at Model Town Mor."
The aim, as described in the ad, was to provide "good quality food and entertainment at doorstep for the residents of the MTS as well as the general public."
Others could see through the decision of the management which obviously wanted to get done with the plan by early 2015, well before the MTS body’s three-year term ends. The plan included commercialisation of the swathes of green land in J-Block by constructing an amusement park.
All this was against the wishes of an overwhelming majority of the Model Town residents. "The trees, routinely cut at midnight, are being removed in favour of commercial buildings that shall badly affect the environment of the area," says Talat Mahmood, a former army officer and a resident of MTS.
Expressing serious concerns, he says the Society’s elected officers have practically "butchered more than 1,000 old trees on the 55-Kanal area.
"Commercial activities in the residential area means all sorts of air and noise pollution." he adds. "The MTS is among the oldest localities of Lahore which had purpose-built gardens and parks to safeguard ecology and greenery for a better living."
The MTS management has also received a series of notices from the respective authorities including Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the department of Cooperative Housing Societies but the residents say the management committee is oblivious to these intimations and the formerly reported Lahore High Court and Supreme Court of Pakistan verdicts against commercial plans on parks and green belts.
"Through the residents we have come to know that the MTS management has commenced the cutting of trees in Linear Park, a children’s playground and the Model Town Nursery in J-Block, for the execution of a project which may change the ecosystem of the area.
"As such, the MTS is violating the order of LHC that was passed in November 2013 against a writ petition," reads an EPA notice served on the MTS last month.
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The EPA also warned the MTS management to stop all such activities/operations that involve cutting of trees, with immediate effect, in order to safeguard environment, ecology and biodiversity of the area."
In a previous hearing of the case in the EPA, the Society submitted its reply to the agency’s director general upon which some residents who had moved the EPA, expressed their reservations and raised objections. The case has been adjourned for a few days
Years ago, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered to demolish a restaurant in a public green area in the Capital city of Islamabad.
The MTS elected President Sahibzada Saifur Rehman says these allegations are a baseless propaganda by "a few."
He also says the plan to convert some acres of the Linear Park into restaurants was duly approved in the Annual General Meeting of the MTS a couple of years ago. "The AGM is an open forum and, at that time, 600-odd members attended the meeting."
Presently, the total number of voting members of the MTS is 4,000.
"Building restaurants was the demand of the society members and the management would make assure high standard eating places are created without having to cut a single tree in the proposed area of the park," Saifur Rehman says.
"We shall see whether we get some good feedback on our ad or not."
About the charges of cutting indigenous trees and flattening the J-Block land, he says a major part of the front side, used as shops etc, was vacated on court orders. "Those structures were removed because they were giving nothing much to the society. That part of the park was commercial since 1935."
He says that some trees fell during heavy rains and that the society used to transport only those trees in the park that were dry/dead or damaged.
He also insists that the MTS has "around 27 designated green areas at the moment," and the Society has had to spend Rs90 million on maintenance and upkeep, whereas it earns only up to Rs20 million from the green belts.
The MTS president, calling himself as "committed to greenery," declares, "You could cut a tree [in the Society] over my dead body only!
"During my three years as president of MTS, we planted more than 95,000 trees and created green areas through special plantation campaigns."
In February 2013, under a ‘Save the Park Movement’ initiated by the MTS residents, hundreds of people participated in demonstrations against a similar move that was later shelved (albeit temporarily) by the management. The residents also moved Lahore High Court (Green Bench), set up to consider environmental issues. The court decided in their favour. Later, the EPA also took notice of the issue. In mid ‘14, abruptly, the Society reopened the files and elected a committee that continues to violate rules and regulations to make sure the projects are not affected.
A few years ago, the SC had ordered to demolish a restaurant in a public green area in the Capital city of Islamabad.
A resident of MTS J-Block, Mrs Noshaba Tanveer maintains that such actions on the part of the MTS management are against the law and a clear contempt of court. "We have been demonstrating and protesting against such plans but the elected committee has turned a deaf ear on us," she says.
"The residents [of Model Town] are very much the stakeholders and the elected committee is answerable to them."
Mrs Tanveer also says the residents want to retain the J-Block nursery as it is a green zone full of plants and trees. "These are indigenous trees and help check air pollution."
She also demands that the J-Block Nursery should be done up and more trees should be planted there.
According to some reports, 59-odd acres, which is about four percent of the total area of the MTS, comprises playgrounds and nurseries whereas 278 acres of land, which is 19 per cent of the total area, is green and includes the two famous parks of Model Town.
The recent move by the Management Committee of the MTS to give portions of its two major parks on lease for commercialisation has sparked off a serious debate among the residents of Model Town who term it as against the objectives of the society and a step to damage the environment.
Most residents, through a letter campaign, have objected to the plans, accusing the MTS of keeping the feasibility reports of the projects out of the members’ reach and getting approval by hook or by crook.
"The ruling class gets away with all its wrongdoings because the legal members of the MTS do not bother to attend the annual general meetings," reads a pamphlet printed by the Society members and distributed by a concerned group named Model Town Residents Association.
"If we desire to keep the MTS a beautiful, green and peaceful living area, we shall have to stand up."
Noted conservationist Ajaz Anwar thinks the MTS itself was set up in early 20th century to go with the original concept of having gardens in all blocks. "Once the MTS had the largest number of indigenous trees planted for flora and fauna. These [trees] must be protected.
"There are laws to stop such destruction," he adds, "and the authorities must take notice of it, lest they are part of the problem."