RAWALPINDI: After its takeover by the Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PTMA), the vacant land of the metro bus stations in Rawalpindi is now being encroached on by car dealers. Cars can be found parked under the elevated road from Saddar to Faizabad as well.

The land of the bus station at Marrir Chowk is being used by car dealerships for showcasing their cars while that on Committee Chowk is being used by fish vendors to seat their customers.

“The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) looked after the affairs of these bus stations but it is now the responsibility of PTMA. People used the transit period in the takeover to encroach on the bus station’s land,” a senior official of the district administration said.

Before the takeover, the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) was to develop the vacant land of the stations as greenbelts, which it failed to do even though it had Rs130 million from the provincial government to do so,” he said.

RDA looked after the bus stations but it is now the responsibility of PTMA, an official says

“If the PHA had developed the green belts during the last three years, then no shopkeeper can encroach on government land,” he said.

The government had paid commercial rates when purchasing land from private owners for the bus stations, which has gone to waste due to the encroachments, he added.

A senior RDA official told Dawn that it is the duty of the local administration and Rawal Town Municipal Administration to take action against the car dealers to stop them from parking their vehicles on bus station land.

He said the RDA had allowed shopkeepers and ambulances to park for free in the vacant space under the flyovers and that it is now up to PTMA to decide if it wants a fee for this.

RDA Chief Engineer Ather Hussain Bukhari also said the RDA had handed over the metro bus stations and its assets to PTMA which is now responsible for looking after its affairs.

He said the RDA had tried to save the land of the metro bus project and had also handed over the revenue record of the bus stations to the relevant authorities.

PHA officials said that the authority had developed green belts and improved the lighting system along the metro route but the local civic agencies cannot keep a check on encroachments by local shop owners.

They said PHA was given land to develop green belts on in specific areas on which it is doing work as per routine and that the authority will do the same if asked by PTMA.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2018