ISLAMABAD: About 600 illegal housing societies have been operating in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad without any formal approval, Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) Captain (R) Noorul Amin Mengal informed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Coordination.
The 35th meeting of the Committee was held here in the capital Islamabad at the CDA Secretariat on Wednesday to discuss a comprehensive report on the implementation status of the previous recommendations and details of Housing Societies in Islamabad.
The committee was also apprised of the restaurants located on Margalla Hills with poor sewerage systems causing severe damage to the environment.
Chairperson MNA, Nuzhat Pathan chaired the meeting and expressed her resentment over the late arrival of the Chairman CDA in the Committee meeting, however, the Authority officials informed the chair that the latter was in the Court for a personal hearing.
Illegal Housing Societies
The Chairman CDA apprised that there were nearly 318 illegal housing societies in Rawalpindi and 150 housing societies in the capital Islamabad whereas most of these societies were established in Fatehjang, Rawalpindi Tehsil.
The committee members were also informed that some 100 illegal societies were also established in the adjoining Attock district.
The Chairperson also asked for information from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination on the Soybean Seeds import summary pending in the Ministry resulting increase in the prices of poultry products.
Additional Secretary, Ministry of Climate Change, Musaddik Ahmed Khan briefed the forum on the issue and informed that alternates to the poultry feed already available in the market and there was no such shortage but rather it was an exploitative tactic by the Poultry industry.
The committee also highlighted the issue of the installation of streetlights in the Margalla Hills National Park with some concerns raised by MNA, Romina Khurshid Alam over the approach of CDA
She added that in Islamabad, 102 gutter lids were stolen, and a day earlier two individuals including a father and son lost died after the boy fell into the gutter and got suffocated due to gas.
Member, of Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), Waqar Zekria informed the forum that several species in Margalla Hills National Park were nocturnal and were impacted by lights at night.
The guidelines for visitors of trails were very clear that they should after sunrise and leave the national park before sunset, he added.
Waqar Zakria explained that the more the traffic the more would be damage to nature in the national park whereas on average there were over 5,000 visitors visiting trails at the weekends.
Meanwhile, Chairman CDA Noor ul Amin Mengal said that the CDA Environment Wing has planted 700,000 trees across the federal capital out of which one-third were fruit trees that are primarily to enhance green cover.
In addition, section 144 has been imposed in the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) on no smoking and cooking food.
Status of Legal Housing Societies
The Director of Housing CDA told the committee that there were 63 total housing societies in different zones of the federal capital out of which 43 were awarded no objection certificates after environmental clearance of Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency. However, NOCs and the clearance of the rest of the societies were pending.
Farzana Altaf Shah, Director General Pak-EPA, said that the number of housing societies quoted, was ambiguous and required proper classification as legal or illegal.
The environmental clearance for society was mandatory under section 12 of PEPA Act 1997 whereas the housing society’s land, layout and design all were approved by the CDA, she added.
