LAHORE: The realization of issues of flawed policy of the LDA on commercialisation in residential areas and its leniency towards illegal commercial activities there dawned on the higher officials of the authority after they tasted their own medicine in the face of commercialisation near their residences in Muslim Town.

For the first time, the senior officials of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) have felt the adverse impact of the illegal commercialisation in residential areas and they formally wrote to their director general to take action in this regard.

The issue emerged after they witnessed an ongoing illegal conversion of a house into a school in Muslim Town’s D Block—the area where the authority’s officers live in 15 LDA’s official residences, Dawn has learnt.

Through a letter written to LDA Director General Ahmad Aziz Tarar on Aug 28, the officials have warned of any mishap if such illegal construction of a commercial building continues covertly despite issuance of a notice to the property owner in June.

“It is stated that we are residents of official accommodations of LDA, situated at D Block, New Muslim Town, Lahore. Recently, a commercial construction has been observed at House No 53, Block A, New Muslim Town, which is located opposite to our residences. It has come to our knowledge that a school is being started on this property, despite its residential status,” the letter has been signed by the residents—LDA Additional Director General Rana Tikka Khan, Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa/LDA) Deputy Managing Director Ghufran Ahmad, LDA Director (Housing-IX/LDA City Housing Scheme) Khurram Yaqub, Director (Revenue) Haroonur Rasheed, Director (Coordination & Implementation) Sumaria Sadiq, Deputy Director (Finance) Kashif Imran and Deputy Director (Admin) Umar Suhaib.

The officers have mentioned that the street where the aforementioned commercialisation is under way is just 30 foot wide. It is adjacent to University of Health Sciences (UHS) and rear gate of Sheikh Zayed Hospital, due to which it remains overcrowded with commuters and vehicular traffic. The opening of this illegal school, they fear, may lead to traffic mess as well as security issues.

“A joint action of LDA’s Town Planning and Enforcement team is required against the property planned for illegal commercial activity and encroachments along with a strong follow-up, so that residents are not deprived of their rights to live peacefully in the community,” the letter says.

It is worth mentioning that there are a number of unlawfully constructed buildings being used for commercial activities in residential areas in the jurisdiction of the LDA as well as the Metropolitan Corporation Lahore (MCL). The situation is really bad in Gulberg, Johar Town, Township, Garden Town, Muslim Town, Iqbal Town, Sabzazar, Samanabad, Wapda Town and some other areas due to haphazard illegal constructions by the property owners allegedly in connivance with the LDA officials. The situation in the old Lahore and unplanned areas of the city is worst.

Introduction of a policy around six years ago for allowing construction of commercial buildings on a temporary commercialisation basis by depositing fee played havoc in the city as it caused several civic issues of traffic, parking, pollution, health etc.

“It’s ironical that officers belonging to upper echelons of a body entrusted with the building and land use control in the metropolis are so helpless owing to illegal commercial activities in front of their houses, forcing them to write an application to the LDA DG while their colleagues in Town Planning Wing aren’t ready to budge on the issue,” deplores an official source in the authority.

Another official also criticised the officers concerned, demanding the LDA DG to take action immediately.

This incident exposes the LDA’s problematic policy of giving a legal cover to the commercial activities in the residential areas of Lahore and turning the residential areas into business hubs. The authority not only allowed commercial activities but started regulating already illegal structures/activities in its jurisdiction to earn big bucks.

According to a report published in Dawn in 2016, “Under a notification in 2014, the LDA itself started regulating as many as 15,000 illegally constructed commercial structures. And it was the policy of temporary commercialisation allowed by the LDA governing body on two grounds — to legalise illegal commercial structures on an annual basis and generate revenue.

“In 2014, the LDA again revived the policy and not only started legalising the already built illegal commercial structures but also allowing temporary commercialisation if someone wants to do so in residential areas.”

The case mentioned above should be an eye-opener for the LDA as its high officials have realised the problems caused by commercial activities and illegal commercialisation in residential areas, which the rest of the citizens face on a daily basis due to the flawed policies of the authority aimed at mere generating funds.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2021