RAWALPINDI: The district administration launched a grand operation to retrieve state land from illegal occupants but abandoned it just after two days on the face of political pressure.
On the other hand, the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has sped up its drive in its administrative controlled area and demolished illegal structures on Adamjee Road on Friday.
The district administration stopped the drive soon after the issue of the Damdama Temple land last week.
Local traders and politicians joined hands against drive launched last week to retrieve state land from illegal occupation, official says
An operation was launched to retrieve the two kanals and 14 marlas of the temple from illegal occupation. But the district administration and Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) had to stop the drive after facing resentment from local politicians as well as traders.
The drive was launched on the directives of Lahore High Court (LHC)’s Rawalpindi bench but without any planning and homework. After the resentments, the anti-encroachment drive has become limited to stallholders and cart pushers.
A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that the operation launched last week aimed at retrieving the land of the ETPB and Auqaf department besides seeking details from the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) and other departments about encroached land.
He said the district administration had recovered land worth billions of rupees at Dhoke Ellahi Bux, Rashid Minhas Road and some parts of Ganjmandi. But the operation was abandoned midway due to political pressure.
He said different groups of traders as well as politicians had joined hands against the anti-encroachment drive.
A senior official of the ETPB said the operation had been ended and there was no plan to vacate the land from illegal occupants.
He said a list of properties of the board in illegal occupation had been provided to the district administration but the latter stopped the operation. The ETPB cannot retrieve its land without the help of the administration and the police, he added.
He said the ETPB head office had sought details of land retrieved during last week and asked the deputy administrator ETPB to provide details about the illegal occupants.
Rawalpindi Traders Association spokesman Naveed Kanwal said the operation was now limited to the removal of small stallholders and shades of shops.
He said the traders were in favour of the operation against encroachments as it would open roads for the visitors but the administration razed shades which had been installed to protect shops from sunlight.
“Bara Market is the best example of encroachment. Despite all claims, the administration failed to vacate the area from stallholders and permanent encroachments as the staff of the district administration is getting bribe from them,” he alleged.
Meanwhile, the RCB razed temporary shelters in front of 12 shops and illegal structures in front of 38 shops on Adamjee Road near Hathi Chowk.
RCB spokesman Qaisar Mehmood said that last month notices had been issued to all the shopkeepers in Saddar to remove their illegal structures. Some of the traders failed to respond and as a result the RCB razed the illegal structures.
He said in coming week the RCB would launch an operation against illegal structures outside shopping malls.
Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2018
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