PESHAWAR: The water and soil conversation department of Khyber Pakthunkhwa on Wednesday revealed that the hotel of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Engineer Amir Muqam, is being built illegally, as report of encroachments on large hotels destroyed by floods in Swat and Kalam have been issued.
According to the report of the Water and Soil Conservation Department of KP, the river protection law was ignored in the construction of hotels in Swat and Kalam and the hotel of Prime Minister’s advisor Amir Muqam was also made illegally, while in the report the question was also raised that who will carry out the operations against the hotel of Amir Muqam.
According to the report, due to the influence of the New Honeymoon Hotel owner, the anti-encroachment operation was stopped due to pressure from Islamabad. During the last 12 years, up to 200 feet of construction has been carried out on the banks of the river, with a proposal to hire a Geographic Information System expert to ensure implementation of the Rivers Protection Act, 2016 and other suggestions.
The report also suggested amendments to the Rivers Protection Act.
Moreover, the Rivers Protection Act was enacted for the Indus River, which cannot be applied to the river Swat, while encroachment report of six major hotels have been submitted to the DC Swat. –Agencies
