Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Monday took notice of municipal lawlessness in Bani Gala and directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to submit a report within 10 days.

The notice was taken on a complaint by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan highlighting continuous large-scale encroachment on the botanical garden and park in Bani Gala, which is going unchecked by the CDA.

Due to encroachments and CDA’s negligence, the park is not only shrinking in size but also subjected to massive cutting of trees, threatening the well-being of the future generations, especially as Pakistan is one of the worst victims of global warming, Imran said in a letter.
Furthermore, the letter authored by the PTI chief stated that there were unplanned and unregulated multi-storey plazas being cropping up across Bani Gala with no sewerage and waste disposal systems in place or being planned. He said that no building codes and regulations were being enforced in this regard.

“If left unchecked, all the refuse from these buildings will find its way into Rawal Lake, which stores drinking water for the inhabitants of Rawalpindi. Again the CDA has chosen to ignore all these construction transgressions, creating another source for environmental pollution that already besets in the form of plastic bags and garbage lining roads and city streets,” the letter stated.

“When those who should be enforcing laws to protect the environment and ensure the safety and well-being of our people, especially our future generation, choose to allow encroachers and builders to make mockery of the laws, we as concerned citizens must look to the Supreme Court and seek redress,” the letter further stated, requesting the top court for its intervention in the matter. The chief justice, while taking cognisance of the matter, called for a detailed report from the CDA within 10 days.