Islamabad Sector D-12 sector still lies barren

ISLAMABAD, Sept 27: Another attempt to resume halted development work in Sector D-12 was foiled on Tuesday by the villagers when they attacked the site office of the contractor and warned him of dire consequences if he started work again.

“We went to the site with the staff of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to resume the infrastructural work but armed villagers attacked us and barred us from any work there,” said Kashif Rauf, Project Manager of the construction firm, Muhammad Ayub and Brothers.

He said some 15 to 20 per cent area of the sector was still in the possession of villagers of Siri Saral and Pind Sangrial, where the sector is being developed.

However, the CDA has been facing resistance to get the area cleared since 2005 when the contract to develop the sector was awarded.

The CDA enforcement directorate staff went twice to the troubling site but they failed to get possession of the encroached land.

On the other hand, the villagers are of the view that they had not been paid due compensation for their land and therefore, they would not allow the CDA to take their land and execute development work.

When contacted, CDA Director General (Planning) Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu said he visited the area and remained there for a long time and till that time no one from the villagers had created any problem. “As I left the site, the villagers attacked the
contractor’s site office,” he said.

“The land department agreed that CDA had so far not paid compensation to some villagers as a result they did not allow us to initiate work,” he said.

An insider told Dawn that the residents of Pind Sangrial and Siri Saral villages were still occupying land of the service roads South, East, West and North which could not be constructed and service lines like gas, electricity, drainage and sewer could
not be laid there.

“The CDA team managed to clear some areas on Saturday but when the CDA staff left the site, the villagers again came out from their houses and forced to stop the construction work claiming that they had not received compensation for their lands
therefore they would not allow the contractor to resume work,” he said.

The CDA team will again visit the sector on Wednesday to review the situation.

While giving instructions to the staff of the civic body, CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi said: “Actively monitor the activities and set up pickets to restrain the land grabbers in future.”

Ensure strict vigilance to keep the encroachers away from the CDA land,’ the chief of the civic body directed the staff.

More than 50 houses are under construction in the sector while five or six houses have already completed.