LAHORE: A number of allottees have decided to approach the top judicial, civil and military quarters against the ‘inordinate’ delay in the execution of the mega residential project - DHA City - in Lahore.

They are of the view that the case in the National Accountability Bureau is just an eyewash.

In a meeting held in Lahore a couple of days back, the ‘scam-ridden’ people believed that the project delayed owing to ‘extreme mismanagement’ and ‘negligence’ on the part of the DHA administration.

“One of the participants in the meeting also spoke of the strategic priorities of some other developers and their interest in rendering the DHA City project a failure,” reads minutes of the meeting held on Jan 15 at a local hotel.

Decide to move court, high-ups

The participants said the case in NAB by DHA would not have any impact on the affected people who had been awaiting execution of the scheme for over six years or so. They said around 20,000 kanal land was already in possession of DHA.

“The space is sufficient to allot 10,421 plots to DHA City members. However, there are pockets of land purchased by various housing societies to halt the development of the colony for their strategic benefit,” the minutes say.

“It appears the DHA doesn’t have any plan to execute the project as it is focussed on DHA Multan and other schemes,” one of the allottees said.

The meeting decided that the alloottees would not get refund with interest or whatsoever.

The meeting suggested that the DHA evolve two-year development plan and resume transfer of files within 15 days.

The participants were unanimous to approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the prime minister, Lahore corps commander and the DHA management through an application.

After submission of the application, some time would be given to the authority to call allottees for a meeting. In case of no reply from the DHA, a peaceful protest will be organised on Feb 15 at Charing Cross, The Mall.

The meeting decided that the members would not get help from any political party or NGO, if offered.

The meeting decided to expand the ‘DHA City Lahore Affectees Group’ to include relatives of martyrs. All efforts would be made to identify them and encourage them to be part of the group.

“The overseas affectees can play a pivotal role in our struggle. They will be engaged in data collection, E-services to expand the group and to finance the local events, if required,” the minutes read.

“This project has ruined us. There is no hope that we will get plots in the near future,” Imran, one of the allottees, said while talking to Dawn.

The meeting constituted managing, legal and media committees to pursue the case.

Spokesman for DHA didn’t give the authority’s stance despite repeated calls made by this reporter.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2017