Zubair Qureshi
The Islamabad District Administration and Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday sealed off the iconic mountainous restaurant Monal located in Marghalla Hills on account of “illegal” tree chopping for its expansive construction activities.
The focal person for Climate Change Ministry Muhammad Saleem told media that it was brought to the notice of the Adviser to Prime Minister Malik Amin Aslam that illegal construction activities for expansion of Monal restaurant were underway on for a few days and which led to a significant loss of tree cover and land degradation in its vicinity.
“Taking serious notice of the activities and tree cutting, the PM’s adviser directed the Environmental Protection Agency Islamabad (EPA) to take legal action against the culprits,” he told media.
The officials of the EPA and Commissioner office moved together and sealed off the Monal restaurant. An FIR has been lodged against the culprits at the Secretariat Police Station.
Recently, a number of pictures showing tree chopping and land levelling appeared on social media. The same was shared with the Chief Commissioner, ICT by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) and Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) to take immediate action.
Resultantly, the District Administration conducted the raid Monday evening and it was observed that images of destruction activities appeared in social media were genuine. During the raid, two persons namely Muhammad Sagheer and Muhmmmad Naeem were arrested on the spot and FIR NO 224/20 has also been lodged in Police Station Kohsar, F/7, Islamabad, the media focal person added.
Earlier, a case was fixed in the larger Bench of the Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan regarding the stone crushers, the instant matter has also been taken up by the court and order is being issued including immediate stoppage of the all construction activities in the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) extended in Punjab and Khyberpakhtunkhaw including all types of hotels, rental residential construction. It is pertinent to mention that Pak-EPA also took action about these restaurants in MHNP as all have been constructed without any environmental approval and causing damages to eco-system and increasing load pollution in the vicinity. The ministry’s media focal person also added that tree plantation activities will also be carried out by him in support with the local forest officials at the damaged site for its rehabilitation.
