LAHORE: The Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) is all set to encroach a public park in a bid to upgrade its Chah Meeran Grid Station. For this purpose, LESCO has not obtained the ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) of any concerned department so far, Pakistan Today has learnt.
To upgrade this 130 KV Chah Meeran Grid Station in Wasanpura Scheme 2 of Lahore, LESCO has demarcated the land adjacent to the said grid station. Sources privy to the development told this scribe that after the decision of the up-gradation of this grid station, LESCO decided to expand through the land adjacent to it. Since no free land was available, it was decided to expand by acquiring a part of the public park and a 40 feet main road situated between the park and the grid station. “There was no other space or land which could be helpful for the up-gradation”, they added.
AS per the by-laws, no authority can execute any development project in the city unless all concerned stakeholders are taken on board. Moreover, the executer is also bounded to obtain NOCs from the concerned departments.
According to information available with Pakistan Today, LESCO has not obtained any NOC from any of the relevant departments: Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and housing department.
Sources informed that LESCO had completed the survey for acquiring land after which it had demarcated 220 feet of Central Park.
According to PHA officials, so far, they were unaware of any move by LESCO. Talking to Pakistan Today, PHA Spokesman Shehzad Tariq said that LESCO had not requested to acquire any land of the park. He said that PHA will take notice of the issue as no authority will be allowed to grab or acquire any part of a park in the city. “Lahore is already running short of parks and during such circumstances we cannot afford to provide any land of its parks,” he added.
On the other hand, EPA officials informed Pakistan Today, that before installing or up-gradation of any grid station, it was compulsory for LESCO to obtain NOC from EPA. However, they said that LESCO had not applied for NOC, nor it had submitted any Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report.
According to the dwellers of the area, no authority informed them about the acquisition by LESCO and said that they just saw government officials demarcating land inside the park. A resident of the area, Shakeel Ahmad told Pakistan Today that around half a million people are living in the area and it was the only recreational place in the vicinity. “If LESCO will acquire this land then it would be an injustice to the dwellers of the area,” he said and added that people of the area will stage protest against the encroachment on this park.
LESO Spokesman Imran Afzal said that LESCO had not required any land of the park for up-gradation purposes. Talking to Pakistan Today, he said that if it required any land, the department will follow the due process.
