- Authorities fail to act against sector G-14 land mafia
- Encroachments thrive on 1,000 kanal land in mafia’s possession
Development work in Sector G-14 has been proceeding at snail-speed due to the authorities’ negligence as they have failed to implement the Build-Up Property Award and act against encroachers in the area.
In 2002, the Housing Ministry purchased 4,000 kanals of land from the Capital Development Authority (CDA). Incomplete structures of houses and other buildings which were there prior to the sale were to be brought under the Build-Up Award scheme, according to which the CDA would compensate the owners, who were genuine allottees.
However, the land mafia, in connivance with the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF), Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration and the police, hastily constructed small structures in the sector to pose as genuine allottees, maintaining that these encroachments had been there beforehand and thus staking a claim to the Build-Up Award.
The CDA has failed to pay compensation to the genuine allottees, and has been unable to tackle the land mafia. Consequently, new encroachments surface every few days, which is seriously hindering development activities in Sector G-14.
Genuine allottees have been awaiting the BUP Award since 9 years.
In 2008, the ICT administration helped FGEHF by clearing encroachments on 2,400 kanals of the land but the problem resurfaced soon. Recently, the ICT administration renewed its attempts, freeing some land of encroachments so that the housing authority could continue with development work. However, 1000 kanals of land are still possessed by land mafias, hindering further development work in Sector G-14.
