Court asks official to clear 3,220 encroachments in monuments

Lahore: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has given 12 weeks for the Punjab chief secretary to remove as many as 3,220 encroachments identified by the Punjab Archaeology Department in 124 monuments in Lahore.

The encroachments include different shops, residences, factories, government offices, seminaries and mosques.

The action has been taken on a report prepared for the apex court by the Punjab Archaeology Department in response to its suo motu action.

The report particularly highlights three categories of encroachment: buildings that have been rented or leased out by Evacuee Property Trust departments in order to raise funds; encroachments wherein structures have been erected without any legal locus standi, due to negligence of various custodians and with the connivance of the administration; and those that require detailed scrutiny as they fall within the 200-metre inviolable parameter notified by the Antiquity Act 1975.

Federal areas

According to the report, the Moghul era Jahangir's tomb is the worst affected monument with 394 encroachments, while Lahore Fort has suffered 231 violations, Temple and Tank of Bherro Ka Than 127, Lohari Gate 108, Shalamar Garden 105, and Bhatti Gate 101.

As many as 33 monuments located in Ravi Town are marred by 1,568 encroachments; 15 monuments of Shalimar Town have suffered 859 violations; eight monuments of Samanabad Town 603; 48 historic places of Data Ganj Buksh 168; 17 places of Gulberg town 22; while no encroachments were found in Wahga and Aziz Bhatti Towns. Interestingly, all encroachments were found in federally administered monuments and none in the provincially administered monuments.

The Director General of the Punjab Archaeology Department, Orya Maqbool Jan, said that this is because of the different nature of the monuments in question: the provincially administered monuments are the likes of Government College University, Staff College and Aitcheson College; whereas monuments such as Lahore Fort and Shalamar Gardens fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Archaeology Department.