LAHORE – Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry dismissed a writ petition on Monday challenging the construction of a flyover bridge at Kalma Chowk on Ferozepur Road. The petition was filed by Lahore Conservation Society President Kamil Khan Mumtaz, Shajar Dost Convenor Col (r) Ejaz Nazim, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Pakistan Director General Ali Habib and Concerned Citizens of Pakistan Chairwoman Justice (r) Nasira Iqbal. Dismissing the petition Justice Chaudhry asked the counsel, “Why are you opposing the flyover which may be beneficial for the general public.
Do you want people to be stuck on roads for hours?” Earlier, the petitioners’ lawyer Ahmad Rafay Alam had pleaded that after the groundbreaking, contractors engaged by Punjab Communication and Works (C&W) Department cut down scores of grown trees and began digging around the project site. He said the project summary revealed that the C&W Department requested allocation of Rs 1.2 billion for the year 2010-11, engaged National Engineering Services Pakistan Limited (NESPAK) to carry out the engineering design and assigned the execution to National Logistics Cell (NLC), by-passing the procurement rules’ requirements.
He said the Punjab chief minister approved the summary of the project on March 5, one day after the groundbreaking ceremony of the project. The counsel argued that the sanction of the project, engagement of NESPAK and NLC and commencement of the work on project violated petitioners’ and public’s fundamental right to life and a clean environment. The counsel said it also violated the provisions of the Pakistan Environment Protection Act (PEPA) of 1997 and procurement rules. Alam pointed out that the construction had resulted in cutting down of dozens of plants and trees which devastated the biodiversity of the city.
He said it had and would raise large amount of dust and other particles into the air and atmosphere causing adverse environmental effects. He said the project would ultimately increase the number of private automobiles accessing the area which would in turn increase the amount of carbon monoxide and other noxious discharge in the air. He said the procedure prescribed by PEPA and Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) rules required full exercise of precautionary principles as well as public participation which was enshrined in the Rio Declaration Principle 10. He added that EIA’s pubic hearing process and independent review provided a mechanism for contributions and inputs to be made by stakeholders that improved quality and environmental sustainability of the project.
The counsel had asked the court to declare the sanction of the project as illegal. The petitioner had also asked the court to halt work on the project site and to order the respondents to conduct an EIA of the project and submit the same for approval to the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency.
