LAHORE: The government has approved a proposal seeking amendments to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Building and Zoning Regulations-2019 in a bid to enforce the law and regulate the parking-related issue in the city.

The government — LDA governing body headed by the Punjab chief minister — however, in a recent meeting, amended the proposal by reducing the time frame for from 90 to 60 days for submission of application for regularisation and approval in the cases where the parking agreement is not executed with the Traffic Engineering & Transport Planning Agency (Tepa).

The authority has also amended the proposal to the extent of restoration of mandatory parking space from 30 to 10 days in cases of violation of existing parking agreements with Tepa. The authority has further approved delegation of powers to the officers of Tepa as proposed in the proposal with respect to parking and enforcement, management of parking plazas and right of way in the jurisdiction of Tepa.

According to the proposal, Tepa is empowered to execute parking agreements under LDA Building & Zoning Regulations and it is devising mechanism to check misuse of parking spaces in commercial buildings, apartment buildings, public buildings etc being non-compoundable violations. These parking agreements, formalised between Tepa and property owners, entitle Tepa to collect all types of fees, fines and penalties, associated with parking agreement violations and misuse of parking spaces.

Tepa empowered to execute parking agreements, collect fees and fines

“Tepa is currently facing hindrance to regulate and enforce parking agreements, which hinders its capacity to impose fines, penalties or take necessary actions, such as sealing or demolition [structures] in response to parking violations. This gap in authority and provisions constrains Tepa’s efforts to ensure orderly and compliant parking practices, highlighting the need for a comprehensive update of the LDA building regulations to empower Tepa and enhance its role in managing parking-related matters,” reads the approval.

It says, the LDA governing body, keeping in view the aforementioned facts, in its meeting held on August 25, 2023 approved transfer of the function of enforcement of parking agreements from town planning wing to Tepa, along with establishment of directorates of parking and enforcement-1 and 2, that was notified on October 10, 2023.

The authority also granted approval to proposed amendments in the building and zoning regulations with regard to taking legal action against the delinquents by newly-established directorate of enforcement for parking agreements.

“The amendments in the building regulations approved by the governing body will definitely help us in enforcing the parking-related rules and regulations leading to resolving various issues at parking lots,” a senior official told Dawn on Sunday.

“In this way we can not only resolve traffic congestion issues on roads caused by parking problems, but also control the smog and other environment issues,” he maintained.

Lesco: Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) on Sunday detected another 429 connections from where the customers were pilfering electricity in all its circles of five districts (Lahore, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib, Kasur and Okara) on the 134th day of the ongoing anti-power theft campaign.

According to a Lesco spokesman, the company has also submitted applications for registration of the FIRs against these electricity thieves. So far 177 FIRs have been registered by respective police stations, while 22 accused have been arrested, he adds.

The spokesman says that large consumers have also been found involved in electricity theft, resulting in disconnections. They included eight commercial, one agricultural and 420 domestic consumers. All the power pilferers were charged for a total of 349,124 units as detection bills amounting to Rs13.784 million.

Apprising the media of some major power pilferers, he say Lesco has charged detection units worth Rs880,000 to an electricity pilferer in Chuniyan tehsil of Kasur; sending Rs300,000 and Rs250,000 detection bills, respectively, to two customers for stealing electricity in Johar Town, Lahore, besides slapping Rs200,000 fine on a power thief in Misri Shah area of Lahore.

During the 134 days of the campaign, the spokesman mentioned, the Lesco detected pilferage on 46,337 power connections and submitted 45,883 applications for FIRs against electricity thieves in the relevant police stations, out of which 43,177 FIRs have been registered, while 17,258 accused have so far been arrested by the police. The Lesco has so far charged a total of 66,929,331 detection units worth Rs2,599,500,917 to all the power pilferers, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2024