LAHORE: Dwellers of Kachi Abadi at Chaudhry Colony located at Ferozpur Road, came out on streets and protested against the Elevated Expressway Project that demolishes their houses. They demanded better compensation from government and alleged government was paying them below than market rate on dislocation of their houses present along the drain.

The protestors came out on the Ferozpur Road at 10 am and blocked the road for several hours. Protesters used burning tires to cut off Ferozpur Road. A long queue of cars, Speedo buses, bikes and pedestrians waited for hours until police came and cleared the road for the traffic.

Protesters were holding placards inscribed with their demands.

Chaudhry Ashiq Hussan who is general secretary of PML-N says government paid better compensation amount to the colony that was demolished in the wake of LOS construction project. “Government gave Rs 1500 house structure rate per foot and 80 percent disturbance allowance,” he said.

“The residents of this colony demand Rs 1800 house structure compensation and disturbance 150 percent allowance in compensation,” he said.

LDA official on condition of anonymity said we have already set up compensation camp in Shadman for this purpose and will likely to solve the matter according to the law.  He said the Price Assessment Committee had already marked the DC value, structure, value and dislocation value to each house demolished in the wake of said project. “Protest is not the way to solve this matter. LDA is ready to solve this issue as per law,” he said. 

The Dwellers voices:

Mussrat Bibi, resided of Chaudhry Colony, is a paramedic staffer in government hospital who was worried about the future of her child’s education who is in fourth grade in the wake of demolishing of the house. “You can see, this is a small house. My mother lives with us in the upper portion of this already congested room. Where we will go after this?”

Where ever we will go we will not find government school and ultimately have to enroll our children in private schools paying higher fees.

She had also run a home tuition centre prior joining the paramedic staff on which she was proud of. “I will never forget those hard days in which I along with my sisters taught children to make both ends meet.”

“We have built this tinny house putting our blood and sweat,” she said.

Mussarat showed this scribe the small area of her house where she along with her husband and child lives along with her widow mother. This is story of one such house out of 135 houses of Chadhry Colony kachi Abadi.

Mussarat’s mother Hamidah Bibi was disappointed with government’s attitude towards dealing the Kachi Abadi compensation matter.

Her son Zilfiqar Ali, who is employee in Pakistan Railways, said the patwaris and officials concerned demand bribery from the residents before anything adding that dwellers of Kachi Abadi do not have money for this purpose.

What is Elevated Express Way Project?

In May this year the construction of six-kilometre Elevated Expressway from the Ravi River Bridge to Kala Shah Kaku was approved.

Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the project in a meeting held at the CM House.  

The purpose of road building was to build an intersection to give passage to traffic coming from Gujranwala, Sheikhupura and Shahdra Town towards Lahore.

Government of Punjab has planned to construct 4-lane dual carriageway, by using the existing route of Cantt Drains and Chouburji to connect Jail Road and the Shahra-e-Quaid-e-Azam (The Mall Road) with M2 Motorway at Babu Sabu Interchange, along and over these drains.

Project will form a shortest link among the busiest roads of Lahore, mainly Main Boulevard (Gulberg), The Mall, Ferozepur Road, Jail Road, Multan Road, Main Boulevard, Gulshan-e-Ravi and Bund Road. Moreover, it will also reduce the traffic load of all other link-roads which are connecting Allama Iqbal International Airport to Motorway (M2).

The Project has a 10.77 km length divided into three stretches. Stretch-A (Package-II), 4.28 km in length, naming Band Road, runs from Babu Sabu to Multan Road, 2.13 km long Stretch-B (Package-I) continues from Multan Road to LOS and Stretch-C (Package-III), 4.36 km in length starts from Ferozepur Road to Main Boulevard (Gulberg).

What Environment Protection Report says on Elevated Project?

Discussing the adverse affects of the inhabitants of Stretch-A are a mix of poor and mediocre families and earn much above the poverty line, more than US$ 2/day per head.

Uprooting of 1715 trees located in the project corridor is involved. At least three times (up to five times) more trees should be replanted as replacement of the removed trees.

A total of 886.16 kanal land on both banks of the Cantt Drain will need to be acquired consisting 563 affected houses from Main Boulevard (Gulberg) to M2 at Babu Sabu.

Dislocation of 563 families in the consequences of land acquisition.

The public infrastructure will also be dislocated by this Project.

A total of approximately 440 Marla land will need to be acquired from Government Department, the data about electric towers/poles, telephone poles, street lights, WASA pumping station & store rooms, PHA nurseries, residences, etc.