ISLAMABAD: The state minister for the interior on Monday admitted on the floor of the National Assembly that encroachments had been increasing in the markets of the federal capital, “compromising the beauty” of the planned city and causing traffic jams.

Minister of State for Interior Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju admitted that encroachments in Islamabad’s commercial areas were increasing while responding to a calling-attention notice moved by PTI MNA Asia Azeem.

The MNA moved the notice “to invite attention of the minister for the interior to a matter of urgent public importance regarding illegal shops and carts in the commercial centres of Islamabad, causing grave concern among public”.

In his response, the minister said the issue of encroachments was not related to the entire city, as, in some areas, the government allowed vendors to run their small businesses.

Senate body asks CDA chief to get rid of encroachments, expedite I-12 development; civic body seeks separate budget for maintenance of govt-owned accommodations

The state minister said the matter should be referred to the relevant standing committee for detailed discussion, adding that further action would be taken in the light of recommendations of the committee, admitting that due to encroachments, the “beauty of Islamabad is being compromised” and traffic constraints were also increasing.

The mover of the notice, MNA Azeem, said the house should be informed under which law the government allowed business on footpaths. She said after markets, the encroachers were also setting up their businesses on playgrounds.

Interestingly, despite the request of the minister as well as the mover, MNA Aliya Kamran, who was chairing the session in the absence of the speaker and deputy speaker, did not refer the issue to the standing committee.

Earlier in the day, Senate Standing Committee on Interior headed by Senator Mohsin Aziz discussed the problem of encroachments in Islamabad, especially on footpaths and greenbelts in F-7 Markaz, F-10 Markaz and G-11 Markaz.

The standing committee also discussed the fencing of greenbelts in various residential sectors by influential people and deployments of armed security guards over such encroached areas, restricting access of the general public.

CDA Chairman Mohammad Usman told the committee that in the past permissions were granted to various residents of Islamabad having their houses adjacent to nullahs and open spaces for beautification and landscaping.

However, such permissions have been revoked and residents have been informed through a public notice published in the print media to immediately remove these fences, he added.

The Senate body chairman pointed out that 6,201 encroachments were removed and some 10,000 were in the process of removal, but sadly all these encroachments belonged to the underprivileged class who open markets at the roadside to eke out a living. He added that none of the encroachments of the influenced class were removed by the CDA.

In response to the poor quality of pavements and dumping of construction debris outside houses in residential sectors, the CDA chief said fines had been imposed on residents accused of littering while a concrete pavement was also constructed in F-6/3 in compliance with the committee’s recommendations.

The committee also discussed the issue of several housing societies and sought a detailed report in this regard. The chairman of the Senate committee said action should be taken against the land mafia and sought a record of all such deals in which the allottees were not given plots by the housing societies despite complete payments.

The Senate body chairman directed that a subcommittee be constituted over the issue.

I-12 sector development

The CDA said the project to develop the sector had been awarded in June and it would approximately take 15 months to complete the project. The contractor has been mobilised at the site and seven per cent work has already been carried out, the CDA chairman added.

According to the civic body, the presence of an Afghan settlement in the sector was causing hindrances in the development of the work. At this, the committee chairman directed for evacuation of the Afghan refugees to expedite the development work in the said sector.

Regarding the abysmal performance of the civic body with respect to the repair and maintenance of government-owned accommodations in Islamabad, the CDA chief informed the committee that a separate budget should be allocated for this purpose.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2022