In a major operation against illegal residential colonies in the city, the Multan Development Authority demolished entrances and offices in 25 colonies on Wednesday and arrested those working at these offices.
District Coordination Officer Gulzar Shah told The Express Tribune that the drive was entirely transparent and on merit. He said together these colonies owed the government Rs500 million.
He said more than 200 policemen had accompanied the district administration and MDA teams that led the operation.
One of these teams raided the northern part of the district and the other the southern part. Entry gates and publicity, advertising, planning and marketing offices were razed. All the billboards advertising these colonies were also removed by the district administration officials.
The Solid Waste Management later cleared the debris after the crack down.
The action was taken against housing colonies that include: Nayab Valley, Nayab Town Extension, Al Hamd Housing Scheme, Royal Grace City, Nayab Grace City, Akbar Town, Farrukh Town, Iqra Housing Scheme, Al Quresh Housing Scheme, Green View Housing Scheme and Open Space.
The DCO said the owners of these residential areas had collected billions of rupees from the people, but provided no plans. He said the owners had now been given a deadline to pay the amounts they owed. He said some of the managements of these colonies had grabbed government land and land reserved for graveyards or public parks. He said no compensation would be given to the housing colonies. He said the managements had been bluffing people with misleading advertisements.
MDA Town Planning Director Chaudhry Abdul Ghaffar told The Express Tribune that officials had been surveying the colonies for two months and had prepared a comprehensive list of the unapproved ones.
He said the authority had been waiting for permission from the district administration to start the operation. Ghaffar said that these colonies had not paid commercialisation fees despite several reminders.
He lauded district administration for defying political pressure against the operation.
The DCO said that the citizens had been asked to submit their complaints against housing developers to Multan Development Authority. If they are unsatisfied with its response, he said, they should them contact the district administration officials.
He said the administration would try their best to help the citizens recover any amounts paid to the fraudulent developers.
Owners of the demolished colonies refused to comment on the development.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 7th, 2013.