TOBA TEK SINGH: The tehsil municipal administration (TMA) on Saturday declared illegal 58 housing colonies being set up in the city and its surroundings.

In a letter, Tehsil Municipal Officer Rana Ghulam Dastagir wrote to the additional district collector, assistant commissioner, land record assistant director and revenue sub-registrar claiming owners of these colonies had not sought approval from the TMA or fulfilled the requirements for setting up a colony under para 70 and 71 of Schedule 6 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2001 and the Punjab Private Site Development Scheme Regulation Rules 2010.

He requested the authorities to stop transfer of land of the 58 colonies in the name of purchasers. The colonies declared illegal included Arch Valley and its phase 1, Subhan Garden, Arbab City, Hashmat Garden, Gulshan Nawab, Makkah City, Arch Villas, Makkah City (Rajana), Al-Ghani Town, Al-Noor Garden, Khadija City, Al-Rauf City, Madina Colony, Karam Din Block, Hussain City, Neelam Jabbar Town, Bushra Town, Randhawa City and its phase 2, Al-Quraish Housing and its phase 1, Mahmood City, Millat Town and its phase 1, Lasani Town, Zamzam Town, Rehman Town, Sharif Town, Gulshan Ali, Jinnah Town, Rehman City, Al-Rehman City, Fatima Town, Peoples Colony, VIP Town, Model City, Mian Town, Rose Garden, Haziq Town, Rana City, Model City (Rajana), Gulistan Housing, New Garden Town, Hazoor Garden, Ali Ahmad Block, Garden Housing, Izafi Abadi Hazoor Garden, Garden Town phase 2, Aiman City, Muslim Town, Ayaz Garden, Shalimar Town Izafi Abadi, Gulberg Town (Rajana), Housing Scheme Gojra Road, Canal View and Ali Market.

A town developer, Arshad Warraich, questioned when the colony owners earned billions of rupees by selling plots in these 58 societies, why TMA officials did not take action. He claimed that there were just two or three approved colonies in Toba and all others had been illegally looting people by selling plots for several decades. He demanded an inquiry into selling plots in such colonies.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2016