The Lahore Development Authority State Branch has failed to protect government lands in different schemes situated in the metropolis, said the report of a survey conducted on Sunday.
During a survey, people complained that officers of the LDA State Branch are engaged in a so-called operation while valuable plots of finance and trade center have fallen into the hands of Jhuggi mafia
People said that the officials are using the Jhuggi mafia as tool to occupy precious land in different schemes.
People alleged that with the connivance of LDA staff, a nomadic population has been formed and these gypsies have set up barricades on roads, green belts and main highways.
The protection of state land is the responsibility of LDA Director State Branch Sabteen Raza Qureshi. Sources said that the State Branch is busy taking action on specific plots to please the senior officers. Director State Management Sabteen Qureshi’s position is that the Jhuggis are repeatedly uprooted and then they come back. On the other hand, DG LDA Ahmad Aziz Tarar assigned the task of increasing revenue generation to the officers for the construction and development of the city. DG LDA Ahmed Aziz Tarar presided over a meeting on revenue generation. Additional Director General Housing Kanwar Ijaz Khaliq Razzaqi, Additional Director General Urban Planning Rana Tika Khan, Chief Metropolitan Planner Syed Nadeem Akhtar Zaidi, Chief Town Planner Tariq Mahmood, Director Finance Muhammad Akhtar and other concerned officers attended the meeting.
The Director General directed that the citizens should be made aware of the benefits of the Prime Minister’s package to encourage the construction sector and they should be encouraged to avail the deadline of 31st December for purchase of properties.
He directed all the directorates to compile data on extension of building period, issuance of completion certificate, change in land use, commercialization and various other sources of income in their respective schemes so that workable proposals for revenue generation could be formulated on this basis.
