February 28, 2006	Tuesday	Muharram 29, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, Feb 27: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Monday signed another land acquisition agreement with the villagers of Sector E-12 under which they would get plots in Sector I-14 in exchange for their land.

It is the second land acquisition agreement signed by the authority in just three days, as a similar agreement had been signed by the authority on Saturday to acquire 244 kanals in Sector D-12. The award of compensation for E-12 had been announced in 1986.

The signing ceremony of the agreement was presided over by the interior minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao.

The CDA chairman, Kamran Lashari, Member Engineering Brig Ghulam Akbar Bokhari, Member Finance Kamran Qureshi, Member Planning Brig Nusratullah, Member Administration Shaukat Ali Mohmand and senior officials of the authority were also present on this occasion.

The number of villagers, who would get plots in Sector I-14 against their land and Built Up Property (BUP), could not be ascertained, as the CDA announced that it would conduct a fresh survey to prepare a new list of the landholders.

Some representatives of the villagers were apprehensive of the agreement in the light of what they called their past experience of agreements signed with the authority. However, the interior minister assured them that the agreement would be honoured at all costs.

“Being a landlord, I can understand the sorrow and pain for vacating the ancestral land, therefore, I appreciate the gesture showed by the villagers of E-12 to provide their land to the CDA for developing a new sector,” the minister said.

The villagers’ representatives were assured that the CDA would meet all their demands including the Shamlaat land (common land of villagers), double benefit (compensation for land and BUP), single benefit (compensation on land only) and cases of compensation being tried in the court of the CDA’s deputy commissioner.

According to the agreement, the authority would get back the record of compensation cases being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) within three months and issue allotment letters to the owners. Under the agreement, the CDA would also accept all review cases of compensation and give plots to the applicants in I-14.

The authority assured the landholders that all those who were below 18 at the time of announcement of the award in 1986 but were now married and supporting their families would also get plots.