Illegal use of residential plots for commercial purposes continues

LAHORE: Week enforcement of building bylaws, especially related to amalgamation of commercial plots with the residential ones has become a routine in the jurisdiction of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA).

Sources in LDA revealed that a number of commercial buildings have amalgamated residential plots, especially situated on their backsides into their commercial buildings to increase their covered area. Giving a recent example, the sources said a big grocery store situated near Tikka Chowk, Johar Town has discreetly amalgamated an adjacent empty residential plot into its multi storey building. The plot was earlier used for parking despite the fact that the building has a huge basement which was being used for other business activities.

Sources said it was interesting to note that when the amalgamation started, LDA took action and demolished the front side of the illegal covered area but in fact it was a ‘smoke screen’ and the amalgamation continued behind the broken wall and the building was extended from inside. Sources claimed that first of all the LDA officials concerned closed their eyes when the construction of such buildings started. In case of a complaint to the higher-ups, an eye-washed operation was conducted and the illegal structure was demolished in a way that it caused minimum loss to the building, sources said, adding in the second step, the building owner was told to cover up the construction area with a big wall or green wrap so no one can see what was going on inside the covered place.

They said in the final phase an FIR was launched against the building owner/contractor to settle down the issue on papers and later the owner/contractor was advised to get a stay order to stop any further action. Such illegal constructions right under the nose of the officers of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) raised serious eyebrows over the monitoring system of the authority to trace and punish the officers who allegedly provided all kind of ‘facilitation’ for such constructions.

A senior officer of LDA seeking anonymity said that this was a common practice that big buildings/plazas used to purchase backside properties of their buildings and extend their commercial premises without proper approval.

He claimed that a number of similar buildings can be found in different areas of the City’s main commercial hubs where big buildings made illegal extensions with the ‘technical advice’ of the LDA’s ‘facilitators’.

When The News contacted Chief Town Planner Azhar Ali over the issue, he said he has not given any approval of amalgamation of the said property till date. The chief Town Planner said he has already directed the assistant director and deputy director concerned to take action over this activity. He further said he will take strict action against all those who were involved in ‘facilitating’ the construction of the said building while the authority will also take action, as per law, against the building owner.