By Uzma Zafar
After what the so-called Capital Development Authority or should I say Criminal Destructive Authority did this Monday, on the G-11/2, Sachchal Sarmast Road, it seems that the CDA has got a new mission which is to perturb the Capitaliites and to sabotage the PM’s Green Pakistan initiative.
The Capitaliites are already perturbed over the rising corona spread, skyrocketing everyday commodities since Ramazan is just around the corner, lawlessness, accidents and what not and one fine day the CDA personnel barge in and without any warning whatsoever, written or verbal for that matter, without caring to inform the residents even by plain ringing a bell, just like some barbarians, break the fences of the lawns of the homes.
At one end the PM is busy in encouraging people to plant saplings and beautify green areas around them. There the CDA, in a so-called Anti-Encroachment Drive, instead of targeting the bigwigs, the campaign was administered at a low income group who are not putting any heavy generators, nor had installed any guard rooms which the posh sectors are brimming with. But CDA cannot dare to target them proving that ‘Might is always Right!’
Would the CDA care to clarify under which law was the act administered? CDA has always encouraged the residents to beautify their lawns. If the lawns cannot be uprooted by any law, how can a fence pose a problem to the government or anybody around. And even if the CDA personnel were given orders for the operation, there are SOPs and general protocols for the act. You can’t just do it, without even informing or warning the residents.
At this, the CDA officials might argue that the residents were not informed in order to prevent hassle and prospective bribe to the CDA personnel. But the fact remains that the entire campaign remained an eyewash and nothing else! The residents of G-11 were all out on the roads in the evening as the garbage collector came and they noticed that the previously installed gates or fences surrounding their lawns were in fact destroyed very destructively by the CDA who had acted like criminals, doing the act when nobody was around. This act of CDA is pretty insane in fact!
Now if wild animals enter the lawn and eat up all the grass or else, take shelter in the greeny areas and later bite the residents, posing rabbies and other diseases, who would be responsible? The CDA personnel didn’t care to ring doorbells but later the ragpickers, finding prospective livelihood, kept ringing homes and asking residents if they wanted to sell off their broken fences. If some ragpicker, in the wee hours of the night, working on the lines of the CDA, when nobody is noticing, take away all the fences that the people have bought with their hard earned money, who would be responsible?
If the operation was done in order to prevent the Capitaliites from invading CDA land, then why was the corner plot along the street left untouched? There are few mosques built on the greenbelts. In fact, Islamabad Traffic Police’s office is built on the greenbelt and a new land has been allocated for the same but the ITP refuses to shift. Then there are many posh sector residents in violation of the CDA land but no one can touch them! And to top it all, this absurd campaign is pretty much against the PM’s Green Initiative as just securing a green area is not harming anybody!
The only good outcome of the campaign remained that the ragpickers and daily wagers got something to do with their spare time and earn some money. Labourers charged Rs.600 to Rs.1000 from residents for lifting up the debris and landing it in a secure place! Some sold the same to the ragpickers so as to reduce some of the losses and mostly the residents were enraged and perturbed about the entire episode! CDA personnel would definitely come back and ensure that no one has reinstalled the fencing but what would happen after the campaign? Would the residents reinstall the same? Then are such campaigns just eyewash? Why the destruction then, in the first place? It’s better to ‘Let and let live’ than hurting masses’ sentiments! This is just not on..!
