LAHORE: Minister of Housing and Town Planning, Mian Aslam Iqbal, has said that strict action would be taken against unapproved housing societies across Punjab.
In a press conference, he stated that law enforcement agencies stood helpless against the influential land mafia that had been victimizing people who purchased plots with lifetime savings.
The minister added that the owners of these illegal housing societies submitted an application for expansion in 2012 but it was rejected by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and Secretary Housing as the land was agricultural and construction was not allowed as per the Master Plan 2004.
These societies had gone to the court where they got a stay order and started the development work and later received several notices from the year 2010 to 2012.
Additionally, five cases had been registered against the owners of illegal societies as they had committed fraud of PKR 50 billion.
It is important to note that LDA had mentioned many times that the construction could only be done on 765 Kanal lands but these societies kept on expanding and whenever any authorities tried to take action against these illegal settlements, they were threatened and even tortured.
A recent example was the government officials and RUDA employees being beaten and tortured by the land-grabbing mafia.
Furthermore, a case has been registered by the Chung Police against 90 persons who have illegally possessed the land of the irrigation department.
The case was registered on the complaint of SDO Irrigation under sections 353/186 and 148/149. However, the government vehicles and machinery were badly damaged by the guards.
