FAISALABAD, Jan 5: The Tehsil Municipal Administration (City) has uprooted a number of trees and bulldozed the D-Grounds green belt in the Peoples Colony for what it claims expansion of the road strip.

The green belt, with a length of 2,250 feet and 40 feet wide, had been developed in 1956 as per the lay-out of Peoples Colony, the only posh locality of the city.

It was considered a well-known scenic spot in the city because of hundreds of ornamental plants, trees, flowers and their excellent maintenance by the shopkeepers of the D-Grounds. There are 211 shops, three banks, four fast food centres and six restaurants around the green belt.

The greenery and plantation in and around the green belt had been providing protection against pollution. It was the only recreational place in the city where the trend of taking foods in open had become a cult since long.

Similarly, the shopping centres around the D-Grounds have also attained a status symbol in the city as hundreds of people visit there. Senior citizens opine that with the uprooting of green trees, destruction of the green belt and its conversion into a road strip and a parking lot, the history and cultural heritage of the city have been ruined.

Ironically, the basic spirit of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001, was to formulate development plans according to needs and aspirations of the community. But the TMA bosses never bothered even to table its plan of destroying the green belt for public discussion.

Justifying the TMA action, City Nazim Mumtaz Ali Cheema claimed that the conversion of the green belt was necessitated by the road expansion for smooth flow of traffic.

The MLA Punjab Order in a notification had banned the conversion of green belts for any other purposes other than the original lay out plan of the housing schemes. This notification was subsequently made a part of the constitution under Article 270-AA.

Local NGO's and citizens expressed concern over the TMA action of bulldozing the green belt and uprooting hundreds of ornamental trees. They demanded that the government should take notice of the unjustified and ill-conceived action of the TMA (City).