LAHORE: The City District Government of Lahore (CDGL) on Thursday suspended its planned anti-encroachment operation outside the Qadhafi Stadium as the machinery and equipment required for removing sheds and structures erected by restaurants at greenbelts could not be arranged.

`We waited on the spot but the officials concerned could not make arrangements for the machinery which led to suspension of the operation,` Gulberg Town Municipal Officer Agha Humayun said.

He said the anti-encroachment operation was postponed and would be launched shortly.

However, District Coodination Officer retired Capt Muhammad Usman dispelled the impressionthat the operation was suspended because of unavailability of machinery.

He said the operation was postponed after the CDGL decided to revise its strategy in order to avoid any untoward incident at the site.

`It`s not a matter of equipment.

We have sufficient number of machines and we could do it very easily. But when we observed some flaws in the strategy of the TMA concerned we thought it better to postpone the operation and launch it in coming days,` he said.

The DCO said, on the request of the Pakistan Cricket Board, the operation was planned to be launched before the visit of the Kenya`s cricket team to Lahore.

But it was delayed in view of thecountry`s volatile situation.

`I hope the operation will be launched soon as the CDGL is determined to remove all encroachments in the next couple of days,` he claimed.

About the legal status of restaurant business at the site, the DCO said the entire land was allotted on lease to the PCB by the provincial government.

Under the agreement, the PCB was authorised to construct shops outside and rent them out to earn revenue. But restaurant owners not only encroached corridors but also a vast area of greenbelts by constructing sheds and other structures unlawfully.

Mr Usman said according to the contract the PCB was liable to paycertain share of its earned revenue (rent of shops, etc) to the government.

`Anyhow we have to get the state land retrieved from encroachers in view of the visit of foreign cricket teams particularly and the overall security situation in general,` the DCO said.

Another official said the operation was expected within a few days. `It will be launched suddenly, perhaps, in early morning hours,` he said.

LDA CITY: The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) is working on acquiring around 6,000 to 7,000 kanals of land at one place in order to start development work in its recently-announced mega residential scheme in the city.The LDA City on Ferozepur Road has been planned to be developed in three phases at about 60,000 kanals of land in total.

Senior officials said since over 6,000 kanal acquired so far for the scheme was scattered, the development was not possible on various pieces of land.

`We need about 7,000-kanal at one place in any village demarcated for launching the scheme. We cannot start development work until we get such land,` said a senior LDA of ficial. He said the six private development partners were recently asked to focus on purchasing one piece or linking scattered pieces enabling the LDA to launch the development work next month.

-K H ALID HASNAIN