ISLAMABAD, June 3: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Monday demolished 39 houses that had been established illegally at Charles/Hansa Kutcha Abadi in Sector G-8/1.

As a result of the action, the total number of houses demolished in the authority’s on-going anti-encroachment drive has reached 84.

The action was taken by the CDA’s directorate of municipal administration (DMA), under a plan prepared by Kutcha Abadi cell of the authority.

The operation was launched on June 1 and about 45 houses were razed on the first day. The land on which these houses had been built would be handed over to the genuine allotees, who were stated to be 80 in number.

A DMA official said out of the total number of houses demolished, 40 were mud houses and the remaining were concrete ones.

He said these houses had been built in violation of the CDA’s rehabilitation plan, under which poor people were given accommodation in the Kutcha Abadi. The genuine allotees, he added, could not get the plots because of these illegal constructions.

The Charles Colony was established at the time of the PPP government at a cost of Rs20 million. With the passage of time, some six pockets of houses were established in the colony without the authority’s approval.

A CDA official said the operation was conducted at the sixth pocket where some 106 people had already been given alternative places. However, despite having been allotted alternative plots, half of the dwellers had not evacuated the land.