HARIPUR, Dec 29: A civil court on Wednesday granted stay against the construction of a building for Rescue-15 within the premises of Ayub Park here.

An application in this respect was moved by Advocate Khalid Qureshi. The district and tehsil nazims, district police officer, Rescue-15 in-charge, contractor and the local government secretary had been made respondents in the case.

The applicant has prayed to the court that the people living in the vicinity of Ayub Park have no other recreational facility and the construction of a building would not only deprive them of the facility, but would also damage its beauty.

He stated that this step would deprive the residents of their basic right of recreation, so the respondents should be directed to desist from constructing the building, bringing about change and possessing or making any encroachment on park's land.

When the application came up for hearing, civil judge Asim Khan granted stay against the construction and fixed Jan 3 for hearing arguments in the case. Meanwhile, Awami Jirga chairman Ejaz Khan Durrani has criticized the decision of construction a building at Ayub Park.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, he said the municipal and district administrations were bound to develop new parks for people, but the district and tehsil nazims were bent upon destroying the existing ones.

He said that a two-kanal piece of land had already been carved out of the park for the construction of a mosque, Edhi Centre and fire brigade office, while some land was being allotted to the police department, thereby depriving the area people of their right to healthy environment.