LAHORE – On the eve of the anti-encroachment operation, the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) made dysfunctional its Directorate of Enforcement, an important branch especially assigned to remove encroachments in LDA-controlled areas, Pakistan Today has learnt. The Directorate of Enforcement was formed by LDA on May 15, 2009 to take action against all sorts of moveable and immovable encroachments, properties built on government land and illegally-constructed buildings. “The abrupt move and its timing on the occasion when all the relevant wings of various departments should have been intact, puts a big question mark on the credibility of the LDA’s supreme command.
The step has also reflected the lack of seriousness on the part of the Punjab government,” a senior LDA official told Pakistan Today. After rolling back the Directorate of Enforcement, according to the office order of the deputy director (Administration II), all 58 employees of the directorate had been transferred to the Directorate of Estate Management, he added. Some months, LDA had recruited 82 retired army personnel, besides posting 32 officials in its Enforcement Wing to efficiently carry out a drive against encroachments. Yaqoob Raza was made director enforcement while Khawaja Javed Aslam, who was working as director enforcement was made director land development IV.
The services of Hafiz Barkat, Muhammad Mehmood, Muhammad Siddique, Obaidur Rehman, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Amjad, Muhammad Ashraf, Muhammad Afzal, Muhammad Siddique, Muhammad Ashraf, Muhammad Ayub, Iftikhar Ali, Abdul Ghafoor, Muhammad Riaz, Abrar Ali, Sardar Ali, Muhammad Akbar, Muhammad Khalid, Imran Shaukat, Muhammad Fayyaz, Akram Younas, Faryad, Faisal Mughal, Abdul Sattar, Khalid Mehmood, Sabir Ali, Muhammad Ashgar, Muhammad Raffique, Omar Hayyat and Muhammad Arshad were also transferred to the Enforcement Wing but services of all these officers were soon relocated.
According to sources, the LDA had restructured its various wings in 2011 to please the District Management Group (DMG) officers who were posted in the authority on secondment. They disclosed that the important directorate had been dissolved as DMG officers feared that its working will damage their vested interests. The directorate of enforcement had launched an operation against illegal constructions with full force but Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislators including Ajasim Sharif, Bilal Yasin and Malik Waris Kalu stopped the officials from carrying out the operation using their political influence, sources said.
The officer had filed applications against the PML-N parliamentarians seeking registration of FIRs against the legislations but LDA made the Directorate of Enforcement inactive in order to hush-up the cases against the PML-N leaders in 2009. Since its establishment, the Directorate of Enforcement witnessed a change of command more than eight times. The LDA also transferred a number of officers, who suggested legal action against the PML-N parliamentarians, on a plea that the reshuffle was meant to improve the overall functioning of the LDA. Now, on the wish of DMG officers who were ‘dear’ to former LDA DG Umer Rasool, LDA made the directorate of enforcement dysfunctional, a LDA official said.
