THE ongoing campaign against encroachments in Punjab has surprisingly attracted only muted public censure. While the officialdom customarily looks at the drive as a set of mere statistics — how many structures demolished, and quantity and price of real estate ‘freed’ from illegal occupation — a large majority of the people have also largely disregarded its ‘anti-poor bias’.

In Lahore, for example, the city administration says it has recovered almost 870 acres of illegally occupied state land worth Rs22 billion, and knocked down 7,551 structures and 2,214 temporary encroachments since Oct 2. But it has no record of how many low-income or poor families lost the roof over their heads or their livelihoods because of the drive.

The human impact of the drive is never documented because the families evicted from their homes and micro-businesses bulldozed in the last couple months are not a priority for the ruling elite. Nor is a distinction made by the administration — and even by people at large — between the powerful land mafias and the needy who encroach upon public or private property to shelter their families or feed them.

Little wonder then that the government has no plan to resettle the affected households or compensate poor vendors for their losses and people haven’t reacted strongly enough against recent evictions in the name of the anti-encroachment drive.

The former Planning Commission of Pakistan deputy chairman Dr Nadeemul Haq, who has long been a vocal critic of a strong anti-poor bias in the country’s urban development and policymaking, terms the whole exercise as targeted against poor people. “Don’t (the bureaucrats) notice encroachment (of the state and private property) by the influential and the wealthy? Why can’t no one see the large structures raised and streets closed by the bureaucracy and affluent people (in the name of security)?,” he asks.

Pakistan like many underdeveloped and developing countries, has a long history of powerful mafias illegally occupying state and private property, particularly in urban areas, with the connivance of police, bureaucracy and politicians for resale or for real estate development. (In certain cases, as pointed by Dr Haq, the state itself encroaches upon open spaces like parks and roads earlier marked for public use in the name of development or security.)

But most urban planners warn policymakers against likening such mafias with cases in which low-income and poor people ‘encroach’ upon public or private land because of their housing and occupational needs.

Such ‘encroachers’ may occupy a property for periods ranging between just a few weeks to several years until they move to another place voluntarily or get evicted by the owners with or without the use of force. Growing urban slums and shanties, and roadside vendors and hawkers, they point out, are classic examples showing how the urban poor meet their housing and livelihood requirements by encroaching on available spaces.

Gulzar Haider, the dean of architecture at the Beaconhouse National University in Lahore, argued that protection of the people’s right to shelter and livelihood should always be a priority for a government. “Nothing is more inhuman than taking away shelter from the poor and vulnerable, and trashing their livelihoods. It is the state’s responsibility to provide the affected families alternate housing and compensate them for their business losses.”

Apart from social and economic reasons that lead to temporary encroachments, experts blame weak governance, lack of political will, poor implementation of building laws, delays by the judiciary in adjudication of cases and lack of punitive action against encroachers for rising cases of permanent illegal occupation of the state and private real estate by land mafias.

“(Encroachments, permanent or temporary) represent a complete breakdown of urban governance and planning,” insisted leading architect Kamil Khan Mumtaz. “If we had a strong local government in place we wouldn’t be witnessing this situation today.”

Dr Haq agrees. “Encroachments are essentially a by-product of urban policy’s focus on housing for the rich at the expense of the economic, educational, recreational, health, livelihood and other needs of the common people.”

Mr Haider said the problem of land grabbing could not be addressed without proper implementation of the law, punitive action against powerful mafias, strong surveillance system at the local level and public support.

“The needs of the poor to low-income (temporary) encroachers can be dealt only through implementation of an equitable approach towards organised and inclusive urban development and planning. It is time our urban planners start looking beyond the housing and shopping needs of the affluent classes alone. The economic, social and other needs of the poorer segments of the population also require their attention and incorporation in urban development policy.”

Unless the government realises that the poor also need a place to live and earn their livelihood, and make their requirements a part of urban planning, it’ll never be able to control encroachment. The people uprooted from one place today will be compelled to find another tomorrow to encroach.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, December 10th, 2018