MURREE: Despite a ban, construction activities continue in Murree by influential people in connivance with officials of Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA).

During the PML-Q government under the chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Ellahi, haphazard construction of buildings was carried out in Murree.

The government framed building by-laws and got them passed from the Punjab Assembly. According these by-laws, only 30-foot high buildings with ground plus two storeys could be constructed.

But a huge number of multi-storey buildings were constructed in violation of the by-laws.

In 2006, when a multi-storey building collapsed killing three people, the then chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry took notice of the illegally constructed buildings.

The then town nazim Sardar Saleem presented a list of 192 buildings constructed illegally in the town, some of which were declared dangerous.

The court ordered the town administration to demolish all the 192 buildings and present a report within two months. But so far no action could be taken against the buildings.

Former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif also imposed a ban on all types of construction in the town and ordered to demolish illegally-constructed buildings. But influential people continued illegal construction in the town.

Hafiz Saeed Ahmad, president of an NGO working for environment protection, said it is a test case for the PTI government how it takes action against the mafia.

He said these buildings have damaged the environment and ecology of the resort city.

When contacted, Assistant Commissioner Imtiaz Ahmed Khitchi, who also holds the additional charge of administrator Murree town, said the ban was imposed on all kinds of construction in 2010. He said in 2017 Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench ordered to lift the ban declaring it against basic human rights.

The Punjab government filed an appeal in the LHC but a double-member bench maintained the decision.

Later, the government filed an appeal in Supreme Court where it is still pending. He said he had written two letters to the secretary of his department about the status of the ban and was waiting for a reply.

He said the Supreme Court had also formed a one-member commission, comprising Justice Baqir Bajwa of Federal Shariat Court, to investigate and suggest measures for the already constructed multi-storey buildings.

The commission has given the deadline of June 16, 2019, to the Murree administration to submit all records of illegally-constructed buildings.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2019