ISLAMABAD, June 18: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Monday assured the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that it would remove encroachments and security barriers from roads, especially outside the headquarters of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Sector G-9.

When Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui took up for hearing a public interest litigation seeking removal of encroachments from the commercial areas of Islamabad, Nazeer Jawwad, the legal counsel for the civic agency, while giving the assurance also said the shape of the capital city would be restored in accordance with its master plan.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Jawwad said the authority was sending notices to those public and private sector organisations that had encroached on government land or blocked roads causing problems for the residents.

He said a notice was being issued to the FIA for blocking a portion of the road. He, however, said due to prevailing law and order situation, the authority may not send a similar notice to Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) which has blocked a complete section of Khayaban-i-Suharwardi.

The CDA counsel informed the court that the anti-encroachment wing of the civic agency had removed encroachments from sectors F-7, F-8, F-10, F-11, G-9, G-10 and G-11.

He said a driveway of a private fast food outlet in Sector F-7 was also demolished during a recent campaign.

According to CDA reply, its anti-encroachment wing during the last six months confiscated over 4,000 items that were being sold on the encroached land and imposed about Rs2 million fine on the encroachers during the last two years.

The court directed the petitioner to verify the facts and figures provided by the Capital Development Authority in its compliance report and adjourned the hearing for 10 days.

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