The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) has taken the control of the Monal Restaurant, the once scenic eatery located in the heart of Margalla Hills in Islamabad.
According to details, IWMB along with a number of teams of the Capital Development Authority in the presence of concerned Assistant Commissioner (AC) Islamabad assumed the control of Monal Restaurant.
The IWMB has ordered the management of the Monal Restaurant to ensure the removal of their remaining stuff from the premises within 48 hours as well.
The development comes after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) last month ordered the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration to seal and hand over the control of the Monal Restaurant to IWMB.
The verdict emerged from a case that contended that the Monal Restaurant has been built on encroached land in the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP), which is against the environmental laws of the country.
The ICT administration sealed Monal Restaurant within hours after the judgment was issued. However, the IWMB failed to take charge of the eatery for a couple of weeks because the roads leading to it were blocked by staff and members who staged a strong protest against the decision.
Meanwhile, the IWMB has already decided to bring the deserted Monal Restaurant into use by transforming it into a wildlife education center, envisioning raising awareness regarding the protection and preservation of wildlife of the MHNP among the public.
In this regard, the IWMB has already drafted a proposal after receiving NOC from the CDA that will be submitted to the Ministry for Climate Change for the final approval of the plan in the coming days.