ISLAMABAD: Heavy rain in the Margalla Hills caused flooding in historical Saidpur village on Monday, sweeping away at least three cars and several motorbikes as illegal construction narrowed down the naturalnullah.

Saidpur witnessed 157mm rain on Monday.

The ongoing monsoon season, which has already affected two multibillion development projects of CDA Jinnah Square and F-8 Interchange caused nash nooding in the nullah of Saidpur, one of the oldest vil-lages of Islamabad.

The unauthorised construction during the last three decades had narrowed down the right of way of the nullah. The heavy rain flooding the nullah swept away three vehicles and many bikes, which were later recovered but were badly damaged.

Recently, heavy rain caused flooding in Diplomatic Enclave because of blocking of an old culvert, which faced blockage when debris and surplus earth of Jinnah Square project was dumped along the Srinagar Highway.

A few days ago, a road of the F-8 interchange was damaged by rainwater.

The Saidpur village is located on a natural stream, which starts from the foothills of Margalla. With the passage of time, the nullah has faced congestion.

A local of the village said around 50 years ago there were improvised floor grinders on the stream as it used to be neat and clean. However, gradually it faced encroach-ments.

`Today`s spell of rain was very heavy, so we are facing such type of flooding,` the old villager said. He said the village overall faced encroachment as outsiders also constructed houses overthere.

Meanwhile, a press release issued by district administration stated that anti-encroachment operation was already in progress and it was halted for a few days and will be restarted when rain stops. The encroachments in right of way of the nullah would also be removed.

`ICT Administration and Capital Development Authority (CDA), in their drive to make Islamabad free of encroachments, has decisively taken action in Saidpur area to retrieve illegally occupied land while upholding their commitment to protect public land and ensuring its conforming usage as per CDA`s zoning regulations,` read the press release.

The recent operations were carried out by CDA with sup-port of ICT administration.

Illegally occupied land, spanning overfour acres, has been retrieved so far. The operation was executed following a survey conducted by a revenue team and after investigations into the encroachments.

The reclaimed land will be utilised for public purpose as originally envisaged in Islamabad`s master plan.

`ICTA and CDA are committed to ongoing monitoring and legal action to prevent future encroachments. At the same time, further investigations are underway to identify additional illegally occupied areas and to retrieve the same.

Meanwhile, CDA Chairman and Chief Commissioner Mohammad Ali Randhawa and Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon visited the Saidpur village to inspect the said nullah and flooding.

The deputy commissioner said illegal construction had been causing flooding in the nullah. `Our operation will continue till the removal of last illegally constructedstructure,` he said.

The statement said Islamabad had witnessed unprecedented rainfall, breaking several previous records. The capital recorded its highest rainfall since 2001 with 157mm in Saidpur, 184mm in Golra near Sector E-11, 198mm in Bokra adjacent to I-12 and 175mm at the PMD site near H-8/2.

`Strict monitoring of lowlying areas in Islamabad is being ensured during the monsoon season along with continuous surveillance of all drains to prevent water logging and urban flooding. Special field teams have been deployed for round-the-clock monitoring of vulnerable areas and advanced machinery is on standby for immediate deployment,` said the press release.

An emergency flood cell has been established, operating 24/7 to tackle any rain-related emergencies, it said, adding for public convenience, helpline numbers 16 and 1334 remain active for immediate assistance.