ISLAMABAD   -    The city managers launched a half-hearted operation against Ghouri Town on Thursday and sealed over a dozen booking and site offices to refrain the owners from marketing their unauthorized housing schemes.

However, well-placed sources said that on intervention of a local MNA, the operation could not achieve the desired goals.

They termed the operation as eyewash, claiming that abandoned and ineffective offices of Ghouri Town’s management and property offices of private individuals were sealed by CDA instead of closing their main offices. 

According to a statement issued by CDA, during first phase of the operation, 23 premises were sealed.

The operation was jointly led by CDA Director Enforcement Faheem Badshah and Assistant Commissioner ICT Saad bin Asad along with a heavy contingent of Islamabad police while the Director Regional Planning CDA Arshad Chohan was also present on the site.  

Ghouri Town is an illegal housing society comprising thousands of kanals land while several of its phases mushroomed in the last one decade alongside the Islamabad Expressway.

The operation was conducted on directions of the Islamabad High Court where the civic body will have to submit a compliance report during next week.

Sources said that the operation would be continued tomorrow to achieve the desired results.  

Ghouri Town was developed in the last decade, during which the CDA did not make an effort to stop the illegal development but it is a matter of record that whenever the civic body moved forward against said illegal housing society, they successfully managed to defuse the situation by using their links in powerful quarters.

Few years back when CDA conducted a similar operation, then the state minster and local MNA of that time Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry intervened and stopped the operation.    

The civic agency had also sealed the society’s offices on June 23, 2017 but only to unseal them a few weeks later on the pressure of local politicians. At the time of the de-sealing of their offices, one of the core members of the management committee Raja Ali Akbar had submitted an undertaking that the society will submit documents for obtaining NOC in 90 days. However, the said undertaking is still awaited in civic body besides passage of over a year.

Recently, CDA has requested Deputy Commissioner through a letter to book the owners of Ghouri Town for 6 months according to section 46 of CDA ordinance but same action could not be taken due to same pressure.

On the other hand, those who have purchased plots and houses in the said housing scheme are facing various problems such as obtaining utility connections, which are being denied to them due to the CDA’s request.

The residents demanded the authorities to take strict action against the management of Ghouri Town, who put their hard earned money on stake.