Showing loyalty to the Punjab chief minister but making a mockery of law, Lahore District Coordination Officer (DCO) and Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Chairman Ahad Cheema is executing the cattle eviction campaign in the length and breadth of the city, Pakistan Today has learnt. The move, which also negates the District Local Government Ordinance 2001 under Section 6, will affect more than 60,000 milkmen. The court issued a stay order on September 9, stopping the City District Government Lahore, (CDGL) to take any action against milkmen and cattle. The Local Government Ordinance 2001 said that unless alternative arrangements were made for milkmen to be dislocated, cattle could never be evicted. But the DCO launched a cattle eviction drive and started clearing the city from cows and buffalos just to appease Shahbaz Sharif.
So much so, the DCO made another show of undue compliance to orders of the CM who, during launch of the “Dengue Qadam Barhao Dengue Mukao” campaign on September 27, directed officers to drive out cattle from the city observing that cattle left massive filth, which becomes breeding place of dengue mosquitoes. “Instead of informing the CM about the stay order and legal complications, the DCO imposed Section 144 and got advertisements published on September 29 declaring 142 union councils (UC) as banned,” a senior CDGL official told Pakistan Today. The advertisement also said that 29 UCs had no bar to keep cattle. All disbarred UCs belong to rural areas of the city, he added.
Another culprit behind the game was Lahore Environment District Officer (DO) Tariq Zaman, personal staff officer (PSO) to the DCO, who was actually supervising the drive, sources in CDGL revealed. Being well-connected, Zaman could not be transferred as PSO to the DCO since the six to seven years despite massive reshuffling. The CDGL barred cattle from UC 1 to UC 20 in Ravi Town, UC 15 to 47 in Shalimar Town, UC 37 to 42 in Wahga Town, UC 41 to 60 in Aziz Bhatti Town, UC 87 to 115 in Samanabad Town, UC 31 to 131 in Gulberg Town, UC 67 to 94 in Data Gunj Bakhsh Town, UC 110 to 133 in Allama Iqbal Town and UC 134 to 140 in Nishtar Town. The CDGL allowed keeping cattle in UC 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 62 and 65 in Wahga Town, UC 61 in Aziz Bhatti Town, UC 84 in Samanabad Town, UC 118 to 149 to Allama Iqbal Town, UC 63, 64, 66, 141, 142, 144, 145, 146, 147 and 150 in Nishtar Town.
Three days ago, the cattle owners association (COA) held a press conference at the Lahore Press Club and highlighted the highhandedness of CDGL. The complainants put forth 8 demands, including creation of new milkmen colonies with provision of all facilities, especially establishment of a veterinary hospital, schools for their children, a slaughter house and issuance of licenses. COA’s Legal Advisor Ahmed Masood Gujjar said that in the past, the government established two colonies for milkmen in Harbanspura and Rakh Chandara. Later, he said, an announcement was made to set up a third milkmen colony by acquiring central government land on 3,500 kanals in Rakh Shahdara in 1985. It was also ruled that all milkmen should settle in the river bed and after acquisition of land, they would be shifted there, Masood said. “However, it is a pity that both the two colonies were deprived of all basic facilities. So much so, milkmen living in the river bed were maltreated and dislocated. Now, the cattle eviction drive is at full throttle and milkmen were being coerced to shift to milkmen colonies of Harbanspura and Rakh Chandara, which are just slump and not able to live,” he added.
Gujjar said that the COA had also filed a contempt of court against the DCO and its hearing would be on October 13. CDGL official Mehmood Ahmed, engaged in the cattle eviction drive, said that cattle in urban areas caused serious hazards, including sanitation and sewerage problems. Cattle were major source of pollution and their waste blocked sewage lines, which in turn created a good breeding ground for pests like dengue mosquitoes, Nishtar Town Municipal Officer Muhammad Akmal said. The defunct Municipal Corporation Lahore had launched a massive cattle eviction campaign in 1997 but buffaloes re-emerged in urban areas after conclusion of the drive.
In 2009, the CDGL planned to construct enclosures at the town level to keep cattle confiscated from urban areas but it did not happen, leaving no other option for TMAs to release cattle after imposing fine on owners. PSO to the DCO Tariq Zaman and DCO Ahad Cheema were repeatedly contacted to get their comments on the issue but they liked to remain silent and did not give any response.
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