Encroachment at the Expense of Kindness

[wp_ad_camp_1]Mercilessly Footpath Encroached to build Wall of Kindness

By Chronicler

Rawalpindi

Encroachment is a bad thing irrespective of the fact who is committing it and what is the purpose behind it.

And if it’s the government which is committing encroachment than it’s the worst thing to happen and it got no excuse of whatsoever for it.

Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) in sheer violation of all ethics and norms has constructed permanent structure on the footpath near Liaquat Bagh to make a large room for placing charity items within it for poor segments of the society. In fact it has been constructed to work like ‘Wall of Kindness’, an idea which gained popularity in other cities of the country.

Encroachment to this effect has been made on the broaden patch of the footpath alongside Liaquat Bagh. Footpaths on both side of Murree Road from Liaquat Bagh to Waris Khan have been encroached by different kind of mafia to turn the public utility into illegal commercial hub. However, a small and broaden patch of footpath alongside Liaquat Bagh near Metro Station was still empty and this is being converted into the room for donating and placing charity items for poor.

The idea of ‘Wall of Kindness’ was actually a wall of  any building or premises for placing  clothes and other items for needy persons. However, the government functionaries at Liaquat  Bagh are making a new experiment by constructing “Room of Kindness” at the cost of footpath and  national exchequer.

Liaquat Bagh is known in the political history of Pakistan as a place where two prominent political figures and former premiers were killed. The first prime minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan was killed over here in 1951. Later former Prime Minster, Benazir Bhutto was also killed over here in 2007.

Before inception of Pakistan this place was known as Company Bagh and later on after the killing of Liaquat Ali Khan it was named after him.  Before inception of Pakistan it spanned over huge area but gradually it has been target of encroachments which shrank it area.

Earlier an installation belonging to 15, a department of the police was constructed in the premises of Liaquat Bagh  and later on a dumping station of garbage was setup near it. The stink of this station was almost unbearable and many regular visitors dropped the idea of visiting the park due to it.

Generally people don’t protest against encroachments on parks and on footpaths because they think that they belong to the government. When encroachments are made on these places they get little attention of media. The issues of this sort are not highlighted as they should be and the concept of correcting mistakes and blunders is lost.

When Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf led government formed government in Punjab it was initially believed that it would take strict action against encroachments across province. It took some measures in some cities in this context. However, things remained unchanged at least in Rawalpindi as roads and footpaths seem to be in possession of mafia and nobody looks serious to take action against it.

End