After messing with Lahore’s landscape, stripping the legendary ‘City of Gardens’ of many of its trees and foliage, the government of Punjab is now unleashing horror on the public as it seeks to acquire land (spanning thousands of kanals) on the 27-km long route for the Orange Line Metro Train currently under way.

The sword of Damocles hangs over the land owners’ heads, as the period of the first notice served to them expires November 30. This will follow the second and the final notice, forcing the occupants to hand over their property to LDA at a price determined by the government under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

The callousness of the government shows in the fact that the land owners’ willingness is simply disregarded.

Ever since the project was launched, most procedures for the purchase of land remain dubious, and there is virtually no transparency with regard to its huge budget. There is no clarity as to the total length and width of the pieces of land to be acquired. Nobody knows how much cost is to be incurred in the final analysis, and whether the legal owners of the land shall be forced to accept the compensation.

At the very outset, neither the common man nor the institutions and concerned authorities such as the Archeology Department were taken on board. As the construction work goes on against Section 22 of the Antiquities Act, 1975, the department is not willing to issue the No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA).

The government also seems hesitant to advertise and display the complete lists of the pieces of land it needs to acquire, for fear of any negative public reaction or legal action. All it is doing is talking about the Mauzas and Khasra numbers of properties instead of mentioning the exact addresses of the houses, shops, plazas, archeological sites and landmark buildings marked for the project use.

At one point, the government said it needed to acquire a land comprising 1,165 kanals and 15 marlas but soon the specifications were was set at 1,150 kanals of land. According to sources, deliberations are still underway on the final measurement of land to be bought.

Project Director Mazhar Hussain Khan admits that the government has "not yet finalised inch-to-inch land so far.

"The services are being shifted and it is too early [as of now] to determine how much land shall be set aside," he tells TNS.

However, he claims that the total length of the land "ranges between 1,000-1,200 kanals."

In recent times, the District Price Assessment Committee (DPAC) set Rs13.17 billion as the total cost of private residential and commercial property to be bought. As the government failed to keep it stable, the cost has escalated to around 40 per cent.

An official at Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA) says, on condition of anonymity, that the cost of acquisition of land now stands at Rs19.8 billion but that it is still fluid.

As the Revenue Department and the common people locked horns, the court recently issued two restraining orders on the process of land acquisition. One of the stay orders -- on Kapurthala House, Old Anarkali -- has been extended till December 7 and the Attorney General and Advocate General Punjab have been summoned on the issue.

Fakhra Bibi, a resident of the ill-fated Kapurthala House, bursts into tears as she speaks: "We had to migrate from India when the Hindus seized our land. We took shelter in Pakistan. Now our own country is threatening to dislocate us."

Zahid Mehmood, advocate and resident at Chauburji, demands to stamp out the said Act in a bid to help the people.

Meanwhile, a number of teachers at the Punjab University have come out against the cheap acquisition of land in their housing society. Those who have received notices from the government say the prices should be determined by the market and not by a DC or other official.

As per information provided by the District Price Assessment Committee (DPAC), the private properties that need to be acquired fall in Dera Gujran, Islamia Park, Salamatpura, Mahmood Booti, Shalamar Gardens, Baghbanpura, University of Engineering and Technology (GT Road), Sultanpura, Railway Station, Lahore Hotel, Lakshmi Chowk, Hall Road, Anarkali, Chauburji, LOS, Gulshan Ravi, Samanabad, Yateem Khana Chowk, Scheme Morr, Shahnoor, Sabza Zaar, Kharak, Awan Town, Wahdat Road (near Mansoora), Hanjarwal, Canal View, Thokar Niaz Baig and Ali Town.

The proposed per-marla cost of the property ranges between Rs50,000 to Rs3 million, depending upon location and the status being residential and/or commercial.

An EIA report, issued by the Environment Department, has called for compensation to be as per the market rate. The LDA official says, "You can say that it is close to the market rate."

He goes on to add that the ‘market rate’ is not a legal term. "As it cannot be defined, whatever the government decides should be acceptable."

In order to pacify the affected people, Commissioner Lahore Abdullah Khan Sumbal has reassured that the government shall offer the best compensation package possible.

Project Contractor (Package I) Shahid Saleem is hopeful land acquisition will make headway but so far there is no progress physically on that front.

Saleem also rejects the idea that the public is up in arms against the Orange Line Metro Train project: "The people are actually looking forward to it. They believe this will ease their commutation woes!"