Shehr, NOS, The News International

development
Land of opportunity
Land acquisitions by government for roads
expansion have led to protests against
‘unjustifiable compensations’
By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed
Sikandar Khan, a bearded trader in his late 50s, oversees the demolition of a portion of his shop located close to the Lahore Camp Jail at Ferozepur Road. Issued a notice to clear 12 feet-depth of the shop for inclusion in the road expansion project, he tried all available channels to get it cancelled but to no avail.

MOOD STREET
Not-so-national anthem
By Zoha Majeed
Throughout school years many things underwent change; some drastic, some rather mild but there was some sort of change, be it our friends, teachers, grades or courses. However, every school day began with the morning bell that called students to gather to begin the day by honouring what we all truly were Pakistani. It didn’t matter whether it was a humid summer morning or a chilly winter one, even the flooded ground from the weekend’s rain couldn’t stop that national anthem from being sung.
While private schools would have a band and karaoke music to assist their students, public schools in rural and urban areas would make do by just the vigour in their voice and the determination in their chords. People living around any school can recall children singing national anthem first thing in the morning at school. It could be heard loud.

Town Talk
*College Day 2012 at LGS Paragon on August 25 from 4-7pm
for anyone who needs help
with colleges, essays,
interviews and applications.
*Talk on ‘The Arab Spring – A People’s Perspective’ by Raza Naeem at Thaap
on Saturday, Aug 25.

development
Land of opportunity
Land acquisitions by government for roads
expansion have led to protests against
‘unjustifiable compensations’
By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed

Sikandar Khan, a bearded trader in his late 50s, oversees the demolition of a portion of his shop located close to the Lahore Camp Jail at Ferozepur Road. Issued a notice to clear 12 feet-depth of the shop for inclusion in the road expansion project, he tried all available channels to get it cancelled but to no avail.

Finally, he has employed private labour to remove the structure before the enforcement team of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) arrives with its favourite herd of contractors. In that case, the contractors will do the cleansing work themselves. If they can do the work for free, why is he footing the bill himself? The answer is simple; the LDA contractors, according to Khan’s allegation, become owners of the rubble which includes costly construction material such as bricks, wood and iron rods and girders. The owner of the vacated building will be entitled to the price of land decided by the government. This happens when they do the demolition work themselves, so he is trying to avoid this forced seizure.

Khan is just one of the many victims of those official land acquisition drives where rules have been violated and the state machinery has relied more on use of force than dialogue. He has been promised compensation but he does not know when that amount will be paid to him. All he knows is that he has to vacate the place as early as possible and transfer its ownership to the project.

If Khan is to be believed, it is sheer violation of the Land Acquisition Act, 1864 which bars state authorities from acquiring land till the time the agreed market rate has been paid to the owners. The said law is the basis for legal and administrative land management in Pakistan and provides framework for acquisition of properties in projects of public purpose.

Many land acquisitions related to projects such as construction of Ring Road, expansion of Multan Road and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) have evoked criticism from the affectees and led to protests against ‘unjustifiable compensations’ awarded to them. For example, the government is offering Rs.800,000 per marla at Lytton Road but traders claim the rate there is Rs.2 million per marla.

“The affectees have relevant forums to approach for arbitration but the options are limited for certain reasons,” says Muhammad Akram, a real estate advisor. Having witnessed a few land acquisitions and participated in price determination surveys, he says it is practically impossible to avert acquisition once the project is announced to be launched for public purpose. The state, in this case, has the authority to occupy land even forcefully so people avoid confrontation and try to agree on leaving against monetary compensation for their property.

The process of land acquisition starts with issuance of notices under section 4 of the Act to the owners of the property required for the project. “These properties are marked, an area-wise compensation package or award announced on the basis of property market surveys, claims and public hearings called and objections regarding compensations are heard in subsequent stages by the land acquisition collectors, Akram adds.

Normally compensations are calculated on the basis of average property transaction costs recorded over the last five years or so in the areas in question. Akram says as most people mention prices much lower than actual in sale deeds in order to avoid taxes, the average amount works out to be quite low. “This is one reason why affectees agree on compensations lower than the market value. The courts of law need supporting documentary evidence which the affectees lack.” He tells TNS individuals who mention original price and pay heavy taxes suffer the most as their deals have little weightage while average prices are worked out.

The affectees are not always the losers. They are sometimes so influential that their resistance leads to a change in the original project plan. This has happened in Multan Road expansion project near Kharak where service lane was done away with to save commercial properties of some ruling party politicians. Similarly, the Punjab government dropped its plan to acquire land on Ferozepur Road from Muslim Town Mor to Qartuba Chowk and construct an elevated corridor instead.

When asked about this preferential treatment, Punjab government spokesman Pervez Rasheed told media the plan was changed out of fears that people will move courts and delay construction of the BRTS.

TNS contacted Lahore Transport Company (LTC) General Manager Uzair Shah, who is also looking after BRT, for comments on the land acquisition process for the project. He says that Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has been assigned this task and it is doing so according to the relevant laws. Shah adds any person not satisfied with the process has relevant fora available to approach for redressal of complaints.

Ahmed Rafay Alam, an environmental lawyer with special interest in town planning, agrees BRT is a project launched in public interest but believes the ill-planning involved in its execution has caused too much inconvenience to the people. He tells TNS “public purpose” is a bit vague term and sometimes governments do strange things under its pretext. For example, he says, the Punjab government has acquired hundreds of kanals of land to build a golf course. “How can a golf course serve public purpose?”

Rafay tells TNS some people from Ferozepur Road have approached him, and they claim they were not issued proper notices by the concerned authorities before the acquisition of their properties.

An LDA official tells TNS on conditions of not being named that it’s true they have acquired land without paying compensation in selective cases but this has been done under an agreement with the land owners. He says there are people who are not satisfied with the compensation offered to them. “I suggest they should approach the relevant authorities (land acquisition collector) with relevant record to register their complaints.” The official says the land acquisition laws even have the provision of offering interest on outstanding amount to claimants who succeed in getting the compensation amount revised in the court. “The law is not oppressive at all, the official adds, saying a court order had barred Punjab government from acquiring land in Narowal on grounds that the Act applies only in cases of emergency.”

He claims land acquisition for BRT, on the whole, has been smooth and, barring the tussle with Dar-us-Salam publishers at Lower Mall, all issues were settled amicably. The law, he says, takes pure property value into account and cannot compensate for the goodwill money (pagri etc) related to successful businesses, or on the basis of likely escalation in property prices in future due to its proposed usage under the said project. “Most of the reservations are based on these elements,” he concludes.

MOOD STREET
Not-so-national anthem
By Zoha Majeed

Throughout school years many things underwent change; some drastic, some rather mild but there was some sort of change, be it our friends, teachers, grades or courses. However, every school day began with the morning bell that called students to gather to begin the day by honouring what we all truly were Pakistani. It didn’t matter whether it was a humid summer morning or a chilly winter one, even the flooded ground from the weekend’s rain couldn’t stop that national anthem from being sung.

While private schools would have a band and karaoke music to assist their students, public schools in rural and urban areas would make do by just the vigour in their voice and the determination in their chords. People living around any school can recall children singing national anthem first thing in the morning at school. It could be heard loud.

When I began school I remember being a part of this enthusiastic celebration of our nation. However, in my 11 years at school even I am no stranger to the fact that things have changed. I no longer sense the same drive and dynamism that once came with this very anthem.

If you were to be a third person spectator to an average morning assembly this is what you’d see; students scurrying across the school and in crowded hallways, gathering for the assembly. They’d line up and you’ hear low key chatter coming from the back of the line which would stop every now and then, when a teacher came for rounds. As soon as the drumming for the national anthem would begin they would put their feet together, hands by their side and chin up and…mumble? Lip sync? Not sing at all? In reality it’s all of the above.

So why is it that this melodious, 3-stanza composition, built on eastern beats with a series of exalting highs and lows, has found its way into that portion of many of our lives which makes it mandatory yet insignificant. Even after being a part of the same generation, the same clique, it is hard to understand why this happened to begin with, and what led to this great deterioration of our conviction and devotion. Many consider it to be the new wave of ‘cool’ that has been adopted by the 21st generation. This contemporary idea is highlighted in documentaries such as ‘Merchants of Cool’, whose basic jist is that today’s generation has adopted a popular culture of ‘cool’ which may be generalised as anything that is unknown, uncommon or different. There is a modern need to disassociate yourself from a clan mentality and be recognised as an individual. Consequently, everything that is new and uncommon is considered ‘cool’ and as soon as it is adopted by others and becomes universal it is no longer ‘cool’.

While some argue that this very idea is what is prevalent in today’s youth and the reason they don’t sing the national anthem as it should be sung, another idea is that most of the youth genuinely doesn’t believe in this nation, hence, they simple don’t associate with the national anthem as a symbol of pride and honour.

Strangely enough, many adults from the past generation agree saying, “Times were infact better when we were growing up.” Things such as the War on Terror, drone attacks, suicide attacks, governmental policy, inflation, increasing unemployment amongst many others have affected rich and poor youth alike, causing disassociation with the nation. This is seen when a lot of youth go to study and even move abroad.

While there are many takes on why this is happening, there is one thing almost everyone is sure of, and that is the domino effect in this sort of a situation. While one or two or even a small section of the younger population, lets say, a school is influenced in this way, there will be many others that will not. However, the increase is because of the domino effect students mimick other students and the process goes on; that is, the fall of one domino eventually makes all of them fall.

While some of you reading this may be thinking that this is a small issue, to me if nationalism is not in our veins, then how can we as a nation focus on other issues? The love for your nation isn’t exactly something that you are taught, its something that you acquire by associating yourself with your nation in the smallest ways possible, such as; wearing green every 14th August, making time for that annual family picnic to Minar-e-Pakistan, reading Kamila Shamsi because she’s someone you can relate to more, and amongst other things, singing that national anthem every day at school.

So when we start to lose small nationalistic actions present in our daily life, we feel the need to restore them.

Town Talk