Staff Reporter
Punjab Minister for Law and Cooperatives Raja Basharat has said that those who had constructed illegal societies across the province would have to face punishment and on the directive of Prime Minister Imran Khan, protection of savings of the poor people would be ensured. He was addressing a meeting of the National Coordination Committee for Housing Construction and Development chaired by him here on Tuesday.
Secretary Local Government Punjab Noorul Amin Mengal and other officers gave a briefing. The committee considered a plan of action to crack down on illegal housing societies in the province. Raja Basharat said that decades-old illegal societies had not been regularized so far and no action has been taken against anyone while life savings of millions of people had sunk into these societies. “We have to close the looting path of societies forever in the future,” he said. He said that the Committee would determine the causes of illegal societies and private and government officials involved therein.
The Law Minister sought a complete record of illegal societies across Punjab in the next meeting. Earlier, Noorul Amin Mengal suggested that for effective action, illegal societies should be divided into those fulfilling legal requirements, those non-fulfilling and other societies while steps should be taken to regularize the first category societies.
It was informed that out of 596 illegal societies of LDA, 246 were formed in green areas. The meeting was also attended by Law Secretary Bahadur Ali, Secretary Housing Zafar Nasrullah, DG LDA Ahmed Aziz Tarar, Special Secretary Local Government Socrat Aman, CEO Urban Unit Omar Masood and other concerned officers.