Half of Islamabad is city, half village: SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday observed that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had defaced Islamabad, converting half of it into a city and half into a village.

“Islamabad is not like it should have been. It was a planned city, but today it stands defaced. How can you allow people to build high-rises in the capital? Don’t quakes come here? Construction of a multistory building has been allowed on the asking of politicians. There are billboards everywhere on the Kashmir Highway. There is no streetlight during the entire stretch of the road from the Islamabad International Airport right up to the entrance to Islamabad,” said Justice Gulzar Ahmed while heading a three-member bench hearing the case of Pak Gulf Construction (Pvt) Ltd, the Centaurus Mall, Islamabad verses Capital Development Authority and other matters regarding encroachments on the service roads.

In pursuance of the court’s earlier order, chairman CDA and National Highways Authority as well as mayor Islamabad appeared before the court. Justice Gulzar said he happened to witness a fish market scene around the Centaurus in the evening, as the shopping mall was utilising the service road for parking.

He said the court will not allow anyone to change the capital city into a fish market. “How you will create the parking lots is the problem of millionaires. Throughout the world it’s the shopping malls’ owners who arrangeparking lots on their own. There’s been no transport in the capital since 1960s other than the Metro bus service. There are no rickshaws. Bring in rickshaws and show your culture to the outside world,” Justice Gulzar continued.

“Pakistanis are running London’s transport system. Our best planners have left us to serve in America and Canada. They say they can’t work in a jungle. Their refusal to work in Pakistan is a slap in the face for our system. While driving on the Kashmir Highway one fears they might not bang them against the footpath,” said Justice Gulzar.

Addressing Mayor Islamabad Sheikh Ansar Aziz, “You cannot get yourself off the hook, as you have budget and a workforce of 11,000 people.” Justifying his position, the mayor said the CDA was not getting its due share of the budget, while its employees were transferred by the interior ministry.

The chairman CDA told the court that after the cabinet approval, a notification of constitution of a new board of the civic body had been issued adding that over Rs11 billion funds were available with the CDA.

Justice Gulzar, however, observed that these funds were of no use when they could not be utilized for the benefit of people. The court directed removal of all encroachments and demolition of illegal constructions in the capital and sought a compliance report.

The court further asked if the capital land was being used as per the approved master plan and directed the land mapping with the help of Google.

The court held that officials of the civic body should be proceeded with criminal and civil proceedings for misconduct besides recovering money from the officials responsible for causing loss to the civic body.

The court sought a comprehensive report on the condition of highways and motorways across the country and observed that if any incident occurred in future due to the dilapidated roads, the chairman National Highways Authority (NHA) will be held responsible.

The court directed the chairman NHA to submit details on the Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway and Chitral and Gilgit roads within six weeks. The judge asked the chairman NHA if he had ever traveled by road and examined the Hyderabad-Karachi Motorway.

"Can it be called a motorway?” Justice Gulzar asked him, adding that if an incident occurred due to the dilapidated road, he would be held responsible for that.

"We will ask the police if an incident occurred the chairman NHA should be held reasonable for that,” said Justice Gulzar. He further asked the official if he had ever traveled on the Chitral-Gilgit Road.

He said the project had been launched twice but only on paper. The court sought a complete report on the condition of roads and highways from Islamabad to Karachi and also directed the chairman CDA to conduct an inquiry into negligence made in the past 30 years and submit a comprehensive report to it and adjourned the hearing for six weeks.