April 03, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 25, 1429

LAHORE, April 2: The first step the forthcoming PML-N government in Punjab is likely to take is to demolish illegal plazas, especially in Lahore.

Well-placed sources informed Dawn here on Wednesday that lists of all illegally built plazas, especially in Lahore, were being sought from the LDA and the district government.

Surveys were being conducted and strategy devised on how to carry out the “demolition plan,” the sources said.

They claimed the plazas would be demolished to send a message that the PML-N government was not going to tolerate any illegality in any form. The illegal structures belonging to the PML-N people would also be demolished but they were few in number.

The issue of illegal plazas was taken up by the Supreme Court of Pakistan last year, even ordering demolition of some of them in Gulberg and at Kalma Chowk. The court had also formed a special committee under a retired judge to handle the issue, but its orders were not implemented in many instances.

Independent sources said the plazas were mainly built by those having a say in the affairs of the provincial and district governments.

Soon after becoming the chief minister in 1996, Shahbaz Sharif had ordered the demolition of an illegal plaza in Shahalam.