ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: The Capital Development Authority has decided to pay compensation at current market rate for the land acquired from 1996 onwards for developing Sector D-12, the CDA chairman, Mir Laiq Shah, said here on Friday
“This policy will also be followed in future,” he told reporters at a press conference held at the authority’s headquarters.
He said amendments had been made to the CDA Ordinance, 1960, under which the present market price of land would be given to the affected people.
He said the villagers of Siri Saral and Pind Sangrial, where Sector D-12 was being developed, would not be further compensated as they had already been given the highest ever price in Islamabad.
Elaborating the new amendment, the CDA’s planning member, Maqbool Elahi, told Dawn that under the previous policy, the authority was bound to acquire land from the affected people under the price set in 1954-58. The same policy was followed in Sector D-12 case, he added.
However, under the revised CDA ordinance, the authority will pay the current market price to those people whose lands are acquired for developing a new sector. The new policy is being implemented retrospectively from 1996.
Describing the new policy, the CDA member said no other compensation like alternative plots would be given to the affected people, and that they would only get the market price of land.
Responding to a query, the CDA chairman said the affected people of Siri Saral and Pind Sangrial villages would not benefit from the market rates as their land was acquired in 1985.
A source told Dawn that some high authorities had stopped the CDA on Friday from resuming development work on the sector. However, Mr Shah said work would soon be started. But, he did not give the exact date and time.
Speaking on the occasion, the director, lands, Shaista Sohail, said the CDA had rejected some 441 cases of compensation and these people had moved court. “We are ready to obey the court’s order on these cases whatever they would be,” she added.
The CDA’s member of administration, Ghulam Dastagir, said the CDA had already cancelled some 1,700 “bogus” claims and a number of cases had been sent to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Responding to a question about judicial inquiry being conducted by district and sessions judge Islamabad Sheikh Farooq Ahmed, the CDA chairman said: “We are happy that a judicial inquiry is being conducted so that facts can be unveiled.”
He said if it was proved in the inquiry that the CDA had dealt with the issue against the norms of justice, it would be ready to meet the demands of the villagers.
He said development work on the site would be resumed at any cost and no one would be allowed to take law into his hand.
On the other hand, the villagers said their land worth Rs10 billion had been acquired by the CDA but they were paid a sum of Rs260 million against it.
They said their land was acquired at the rate of 70 paisa to Rs2.50 per sq yard. However, they have been given land in sector I-14 at a rate of Rs300 per sq yard.