LAHORE: A large number of industry workers, owners and farmers staged on Monday a day-long protest against the ongoing land acquisition for the Lahore Development Authority`s mega housing project-the LDA City, demanding the government to stop the process.

The protesters gathered at Kahna on main Ferozepur road around 10am under the banner of `Kahna Kacha Industrial Association` and later marched towards the Metro buses stop at Gajjumata, near Roohi Drain, where they burnt tyres on both sides of the road, blocking it for traffic and staged a sit-in from 12 noon to 6pm.

Carrying banners inscribed with slogans against land acquisition for the project, the protesters said they would never allow the government to acquire land for a housing project at by rendering thousands of workers jobless, disturbing the industry owners and consuming agricultural land.

`We are surprised why the LDA wants to shut the industry and make us jobless. It is naked highhandedness against thousands of workers who areunanimous in resisting the project by all means,` Akhtar Hussain, a protesting worker, told Dawn. A number of farmers also joined the protesters.

`The LDA officials are also threatening us. They are asking farmers to either surrender the land for the projectorbereadyforforcedeviction.But we have decided that we will foil such bids,` says Haider, a protester.

Since the government allegedly wanted to get land by all means under the law, the farmers, industry owners and workers had joined hands against the plan, he added. He urged the government to drop the idea of LDA City.

`If the government continued with such tactics, the protest can be widened,` he warned.

Meanwhile, a number of motorists remained stuck on both sides of the road for at least six hours after the protesters blocked it by burning tyres.

`I am stuck here for a long time.

Though they (wardens) are trying to divert the traffic, I won`t talce the alternative route because it is too long,` a rickshaw driver carrying two passengers told Dawn at Chungi Amarsadhu intersection.

The sizzling June heat compounded the misery of those stuck in the traffic mess.

The protesters rejected all requests, even by LDA senior officials, for ending the protest and insisted on assurances by no less than the authority`sDirector General Nabeel Javald and chief minister`s advisor Khawaja Ahmad Hassan.

Meanwhile, PML-N former MNA Rana Mubashir reached the spot and announced that he would support the protesters stance during their next meetings with the government high-ups.

`I am with you. Please stop this protest and ease the public mobility in such a hot weather,` LDA chief metropolitan planner (CMP) quoted Mr Mubashir as having told a group of protesters.

He said the LDA`s land acquisition department had just started issuing notices to those whose property had been demarcated for the project under the law.

`Since we have yet to start demolition, we welcome the industrialists and their workers to hold talks with us. We assure them that we will resolve this issue,` he said.

He said more than 15 factories were operating in the project area since long.

The protesters finally announced ending the protest after their representatives were give firm assurance by Mr Mubashir to resolve the issue within a few days.

According to officials, the total land required for the plan measured around 69,685 kanals. This land includes 2,749.2 kanal of already approved private housing schemes, 318.6-kanals of graveyards, 910.4 kanals of industry, 596.6 kanals owned by army, 261.4 kanals belonging to other parties, 58,404.2 kanals of agriculture land, 1,834.1 kanals of Ring Road and 4,610.5 kanals of settlements (villages/ localities/ structures etc).

LCCI: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) president urged the LDA to stop the plan to convert Kahna Kacha Industrial Estate into a residential colony.

In a statement issued here, LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad said: `Unfortunately, LDA officials never bothered to take the LCCI and industrialists ofthe area onboard and put the survival of hundreds of industrialists and thousands of workers at stake with a single stroke of pen`.

He said the LDA move would ultimately hit the national economy hard.

He said the LDA should keep in view ground reality while taking such decision, adding that demolition of the industrial estate would not only deprive thousands of workers of their jobs but also cause insecurity among the investors.

Mr Arshad said the Punjab government should immediately take notice of the situation as forced implementation of the plan would bring down the graph of government`s popularity. `It is the worst use of Land Acquisition Act 1894 which is now eating up Kahna Kacha Industrial Estate where over hundreds industrial units are not only providing employment to thousands of workers but also bringing in precious foreign exchange.

The LCCI chief said at a time when the country was strugglingtoenhanceexports, collapse of Kahna Industrial Estate would further aggravate the situation.