RAWALPINDI:Director General (DG) Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Capt. ® Tahir Zafar Abbasi has advised the citizens not to invest in illegal and unauthorized housing schemes that are operating without getting No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the department concerned.
According to a RDA spokesman, the DG had also directed the authorities concerned to take strict action against illegal housing schemes.
He also instructed the authorities to take all possible steps to provide relief to the citizens.
The DG emphasized that the citizens should be informed about Building and Zoning Regulations 2020 and status of all the illegal housing schemes.
He directed the RDA employees to work hard and make all-out efforts to address the complaints of the residents.
He ordered the Metropolitan Planning and Traffic Engineering (MP&TE) department to take strict action against illegal and unauthorized constructions and commercial activities without any discrimination.
Land Use and Building Control (LU&BC) Wing of RDA had also been instructed to take strict action against encroachments.
The spokesman informed that RDA had also requested Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL), and PTCL, not to extend their services to illegal housing schemes which were unapproved and illegal.
He said the DG RDA had directed the authorities concerned to take strict action against illegal and unauthorized commercial and residential construction activities, booking offices and encroachments without any discrimination.
He informed that a plan for a grand operation against illegal and fake housing societies had been devised. FIRs would also be lodged against the owners of fake and illegal housing societies in respective police stations.
The Punjab government had banned the issuance of No-objection Certificates (NOCs) to all new housing societies to protect and preserve agricultural lands.
RDA had requested Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to issue direction to private TV channels to stop airing advertisements of illegal housing societies.
The authority had also written letters to Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the Chairman NAB, Director General of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Cyber Crime Islamabad, Overseas Pakistanis Foundation Islamabad, SNGPL Islamabad, District Collector Rawalpindi, District Council Rawalpindi and Commissioner Islamabad requesting them to freeze bank accounts and block social media accounts including WhatsApp, YouTube and others being used by the owners and administration of the illegal housing societies of the district.
He said that the civic body following the complaints against administration of illegal housing societies, looting the public through advertisements on TV channels and social media had taken concrete steps to save the innocent citizens from such elements.
The spokesman said the illegal and unauthorized housing societies have been mushrooming in the district while their owners were also involved in promoting their illegal business through advertisements about the housing societies on TV channels and social media.
The administration of illegal housing projects had also been warned to stop marketing their unapproved and illegal housing schemes and should contact RDA for getting NOC and formal approval of the schemes as per law otherwise; strict legal action would be taken against the rules violators.
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