- Jamil Abbasi asks the civic agency to give victims plots in return of their valuable property
ISLAMABAD: The victims of land should be given their rights under the CDA Award and the present operation should be taken against those who’ve encroached and not against genuine people, said Raja Jamil Abbasi, chairman of the Joint Action Committee of Land Affectees.
In a press briefing here, he said that the government has initiated this operation to rid the state land from encroachers. “The difference should be maintained between land grabbers and the victims,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan should form a high-level committee to tackle the issue of the victims and task them to resolve the issue in entirety.
The land victims demanded that they have given thousands of acres of their land to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and thus it was their legal and constitutional right that the civic agency gives them plots in return of their land. The committee asked the government to convert Noor Pur Shahan, Saidpur, Malpur, Lakhval, Teeli Moori, Mochi Mohra, Java, Teeli, Ojri Kalaan into the model villages so that the victims could live with basic amenities.
Also, the committee demanded that action against those who have encroached upon the state land has left 4000 people unemployed and asked that 90 days of time be given to them to vacate the land and find alternate livelihood. The government has promised not to snatch anyone’s job and it should give another opportunity, he said. In the constituency of Prime Minister Khan, mostly model villages were located and he should better pay heed, he said.
The land victims demanded that the denying of the CDA Award as per the 1960 Award was akin to criminal negligence and previous governments were denied proper guidance to create model villages. The committee members also criticised bureaucracy for its role in not informing the prime minister about the ground realities and how they impact the lives of thousands of the land victims.
It is pertinent to mention here that the civic agency of the federal capital has so far failed to introduce such policy for the land victims to give relief to genuine people, despite the passage of 58 years, the CDA has failed to compensate all the land victims. In the last four years, the authority have had many times banned the allotment of the land to the victims as compensation, and re-open it without making a perfect Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for them.
“It is very awkward that the authorities have had put a ban on the allotment when media highlights the massive corruption in the land compensation every year,” according to a CDA official who requests anonymity. Later, “it is used to be re-open, saying victims are affecting. And this has become a routine,” he said.
