Landowners affected by various undeveloped sectors on Thursday rejected the built-up property (BuP) awards recently announced by the Capital Development Authority for the C-16 and H-16 sectors.
After hearing unconfirmed news that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will inaugurate the Jinnah Medical Complex project and Daanish University on Thursday in H-16, hundreds of landowners rushed to the purported inauguration site and staged a massive protest.
However, officials said there was no visit to the site in the official schedule of the premier.
The protesters said unlike the other sectors like C-13, C-14 and C-15, the built-up (BuP) awards, which were announced on the basis of existing houses, the CDA had recently prepared a BuP award on the basis of Google images of houses that existed in the year 2008 when the land award was announced. The CDA announced the recent BuP award under a new policy.
Say civic agency acquired their land against peanuts and earned billions; therefore, compensation should be paid at current market rate
As per its land and rehabilitation policy, the civic agency was supposed to provide a five-marla plot each to those who had 300 square feet covered area (houses). In the light of the policy, the CDA announced built-up property awards of all previous sectors, including C-13 and C-15, whose awards were announced in 2023 and in 2016.
However, under the new policy, CDA announced the award on the basis of houses built in or before 2008.
It is relevant to note that the CDA had acquired several sectors, including C-13, C-14, C-15, F-13, D-13, E-13, C-16 and H-16 in 2008-9, under its land-sharing policy. Under this policy, two types of compensation were to be given to affected landowners: land award under which one kanal developed plot against their four kanals and a five-marla plot against 300 square feet covered area (house) which is called built-up.
The protesters demanded the withdrawal of the notification and announcement of BuP award in accordance with the existing ground realities. Ideally, the CDA should have announced the BuP award on the same date in 2008 when land awards were announced. However, it kept BuP awards pending and announced for several sectors from 2016 to 2023.
In May this year, the CDA issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) under which the BuP cases will be decided on the basis of houses that existed in 2008-9 through Suparco imagery, when land awards were announced.
“This is injustice with us. It was the responsibility of CDA to announce BuP award in 2008 along with the land award. Why they kept it pending. That time, if there were one or two family members, now their kids have grown up and they are living in separate houses, so BuP awards should be announced in accordance with existing houses,” said one of the protesters, Asim Mahmood.
He said the CDA should also pay compensation amount in accordance with current market rate.
“CDA acquired our land against peanuts and earned billions of rupees after auction of plots. Therefore, our pending compensation should also be paid in accordance with existing market rate,” he said and added that in the land award of 2008, the civic agency had decided to pay only Rs800,000 per kanal. “While CDA sold out one kanal plot in residential sectors like C-14 last year against Rs60 million,” he said.
The protesters under the banner of Affected Persons Alliance said if their demands were not met they will stage a sit in.
At the conclusion of the protest, representatives of the alliance, including Naeem Khan, Aksir Mughal, Nawaz Mughal, Malik Hafizur Rehman Tipu, Malik Sajid, Kashif Qureshi, Malik Jamshed, Agha Mohammad Ali and Malik Ghulam Hussain passed a resolution, urging the CDA to withdraw its recently announced BuP awards of C-16 and H-16 and clear pending compensation of all the affected persons.
When contacted, CDA spokesperson Shahid Kiani said the civic agency formally acquired land for the development of various sectors, including those mentioned, in the year 2008.
“Google Earth imagery from 2008, provided by Suparco to the CDA, becomes a standard, objective and transparent tool used to establish the ground realities and existing structures at the precise time of acquisition. This provides an incontrovertible record of legal ownership and development status as of that date. The awards and compensation are therefore based on this verified historical snapshot as well as ground surveys and land record,” he said.
Mr Kiani said any residential or other constructions that have been established on this acquired land after the 2008 cut-off date are unequivocally classified as illegal encroachments.
The individuals involved in such constructions are not “affected owners but occupants on state land that was legally acquired years ago and we are committed to give all legal rights to the genuine affectees as per law and its policy,” he added.
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