Anti-encroachment Drive; Around 6,399 Illegal Structures Demolished

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has razed down some 6,399 illegal structures from the state land during the last year

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Oct, 2019 ) :The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has razed down some 6,399 illegal structures from the state land during the last year.

The CDA Enforcement Wing in collaboration with local administration and other formations of the civic agency has confiscated as many as 13,879 illegal encroachment items by conducting 1,207 operations during the said period.

The authority had also fined Rs 1.7 million to the encroachers, an official source in CDA Enforcement Department told APP on Tuesday.

To a query, he said several footpaths, blockages and partitions constructed in the verandas and other areas were also being demolished to discourage the reemergence of encroachments.

"The advertisements are also being published in newspapers to warn encroachers," the official added.

Around 15,000 kanals of land amounting to Rs 357 billion had also been retrieved so far from illegal occupants by the city managers, an official in the capital administration said.

The land had been retrieved in Bari Imam and Tarnol areas along the Korang Nullah, the Kashmir Highway and the Islamabad Expressway, he said and pointed out that the ongoing anti-encroachment drive was in full swing.

While the city managers have claimed massive operation against encroachers, the public, at the same time, seems less-satisfied from the pace of anti-encroachment drive.

Expressing their concerns, the citizens on Tuesday urged the authorities concerned to intensify the action against illegal occupants and keep a check on reemergence of encroachments.

Talking to APP, a resident of G-7/1 Umar Khattak said along the Nullah, some people had encroached upon a huge chunk of valuable land of the CDA in shape of slums dwellers and recently had constructed costly multi-story houses on political basis.

Though, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had directed Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) and Sui Northern Gas and Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) to severe their utility connections, the authorities concerned was yet to take action against influential land grabbers, he added.

A government employee Zahoor Ahmed shopping at Abpara Market said the mobility of buyers was disturbed due to advancement of shops, mobile vendors and eateries who now had trespassed half of the road, in the market, covering maximum open spaces.

A commuter Mumtaz khan at the same market said he was stuck in the market because of parked vehicles, stalls, kiosks and two-way traffic flow in addition to absence of Islamabad Traffic Police.

Shumaila Shabir, a buyer at a local market demanded urgent action against food-lets prepared chicken and fish in boiling oil might cause burn injury to a visitor in such over-crowded place due to frequent movements of public.

An eatery requested not be named said the "Municipal corporation conducts massive operation once in blue moon when we all are being told a day earlier of such crackdown by the market unions' members, alleging their contacts with some black sheep in department concerned.

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