LAHORE: The Punjab government is going to regulate, at last, construction in plains of rivers to handle high floods generated mainly during monsoons and avoid loss of life and property.

That the mushroom unbridled construction blocks the high flow of water and endangers life and property was first realised at national level when two peaks of extremely high flood passed the Indus in quick succession in 2010.

High flood in the eastern rivers, especially Chenab and Jhelum, had also highlighted the issue last year, causing widespread loss of human life and property from Sialkot to south Punjab.

According to official sources on Saturday, the government plans to disallow certain constructions in flood plains without prior permission. It will also prohibit all or any particular construction in a specified flood plain. The approval will be given by a committee after assessing whether the construction may block flow of water or not, what is the need for the construction, and if it is safe.

There will be special building control codes for the flood plains. And even the federal, provincial or a local government will have to get a written permission for financing or undertaking any construction in the plains. All unauthorised -- private or public -- construction will be removed with the help of the district administration, police and local governments.

Sources say resistance in removing unauthorised construction or attempt to raise new structures will be an offence, carrying heavy fine and imprisonment.

The construction means any excavation, clearing, laying of utility lines, road or rail line, construction of a bridge or any other structure.

The flood areas include natural course of a river, lakes and wetlands, low plains adjacent to a river and those that can be inundated as a result of a breach, pond areas of barrages and dams, or areas likely to be used for construction of a dam or barrage.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2015

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