HYDERABAD, Aug 27: The Centre for Environment and Development, an NGO, has expressed concern over mushroom growth of residential schemes in Hyderabad and claimed that these were being undertaken without comprehensive master plan, land use plan and zoning which were prerequisites for any development work.

The CEAD office-bearers including Prof Qalandar Shah, Nasir Ali Panhwar, Badr Abro, Zahid M. Dharejo and others expressed these apprehensions in a joint statement. “Once Hyderabad was called the ‘city of parks’ which has now lost its magnificence,” they maintained.

Land allocated to parks, including amenity plot had been encroached depriving citizens of recreational facilities they said adding: “The housing schemes being promoted are in violation of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997 which makes mandatory to assess environmental impact.” None of the schemes were in accordance to procedure prescribed in the Act, they said.

Such housing schemes were detrimental to environment, particularly biodiversity for being developed in and around Indus and canals originating from the Kotri Barrage, CEAD representatives feared.

“Acquisition of agriculture and pastoral land for housing will alter land use pattern,” they said and further informed of high water-table in places such as Qasimabad taluka as it was adjacent to Indus. Situation was getting worse every year in monsoon due to the lack of proper drainage system, they added.

New housing schemes, they said, will not only aggravate the situation but were bound to change the city’s landscape.

They appealed to concerned agencies to take notice of violation of environmental laws and ban more residential schemes until the master plan of Hyderabad was not put in place.

The CEAD office-bearers were of the view that these housing schemes should be part of larger master plan based on the principles of urban development, ensuring inclusive and environment-friendly urban environment.

These principles, they said, will suggest planners to show consideration to the ecology of area and determine land use on the basis of social and environmental considerations and not value.

They said priority should be given to needs of poor and planning must promote the tangible and intangible cultural heritage adding that the failure to bring about such integration would cause serious environmental repercussions.

LECTURE: Dr Hassan A.Shah, Chairman Department of Physics, Government College University Lahore, delivered a lecture on “space and near earth plasma” at the Institute of Physics, University of Sindh, here on Monday.