ISLAMABAD: The exercise started by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) a couple of months ago to erect pillars to mark the boundary of Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) has been halted.

In August, the CDA announced that the exercise would be completed within two months, however, sources said that after erecting a few hundred pillars, the CDA stopped the work.

“Currently, the project is stopped because of the tendering process. Initially, we started the exercise with our resources before calling tenders. Later, we decided to go for a proper tendering process that was why the project was halted,” said a director of CDA.

He said that soon after the tendering process, the work will be started. The director said that meanwhile, the demarcation process by Survey of Pakistan was completed in major areas except for Shah Allah Ditta area and some areas of Bhara Kahu, where the boundary runs along the non-acquired privately owned land.

Work to resume after ‘proper tendering process’

“Before halting of the work almost 60pc work of demarcation was completed while we installed few hundred boundary pillars,” said an official. It is relevant to note here that the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), which is the custodian of Margalla Hills National Park, in August this year shared a resolution passed by it regarding the national park and the demarcation process with the CDA recently.

A document of CDA, which cited the IWMB concerns and the resolution was presented before the CDA board last month. It stated: “The MNHP is comprised of three types of land: the Reserved Forest Compartments, which was the property of the Punjab Forest Department previously and leased out to CDA in 1971; the Military Grazing Land, and CDA-acquired land. As far as the Reserved Forest Compartments and Military Grazing Land are concerned there is no ambiguity but the villages included in MHNP out of the acquired villages have a lot of issues,” read the IWMB’s resolution.

The document while explaining the issues of villages’ land in the national park stated that the notification of 1980 does not contain the ‘Khasra’ number and exact quantum of land. So, while placing the massavies on Google Maps before demarcation by the Survey of Pakistan it was revealed that certain villages like Saidpur, Kalinger, Sinari, Sanduie etc are partially part of sectors.

“It is certainly not an overlapping but a mistake in the notification as it was issued by the Ministry of Urban Affairs in 1980. …the notifications for the other national parks across the country have the exact quantum of land with khasra number,” read the document.

It further said that while issuing the notification at that time the area earmarked for sports and recreation zone in the Master Plan located in the vicinity of Shakarparian also got included, which resulted in day-to-day objections from the IWMB.

“Now, the IWMB through a letter has conveyed that the areas which the claim to have been encroached may be swapped with the acquired land available within immediate vicinity of the Margalla Hills, establishment of buffer zone in Zone III and demarcation with revised boundaries,” read the summary. The CDA board resolved to decide on this summary after the completion of the demarcation process.

Meanwhile, a revenue officer of CDA told Dawn that the demarcation process will be started soon. “Last week, a meeting was held. I guess, within a few days, the demarcation work will be restarted,” he said

It is relevant to note the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in January last year directed the CDA to demarcate the boundaries of MHNP within 60 days. However, the CDA failed to comply with the IHC order. In August this year, the process was started but later was halted.

In March last year, the CDA notified a five-member committee to carry out the demarcation of the national park in light of the IHC ruling.

According to the notification dated March 1 last year, representatives of the defence ministry and the Survey of Pakistan would be the members of the body among others.

The IHC ruling stated: “The respective secretaries of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior, and the chairman [of] CDA shall jointly conduct a survey and demarcate the unharmed area of the notified national park. The survey and demarcation shall be completed within 60 days from the date of this order. The court had also directed the CDA to seal the sprawling naval golf course located in the MHNP and ordered its demolition within four weeks unless an environmentally-friendly use can be found for it.”

The IHC also rejected the military’s claim on over 8,000 acres of national park’s land and ordered the CDA to seal Monal Restaurant. Later on, Monal’s operator got a stay order in their favour from the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2023