Punjab Province

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has directed deputy commissioners across the province to enforce a complete ban on the burning of crop residue, saying the practice is adding to worsening air pollution and smog.
She issued the order during a high-level meeting with deputy commissioners from all districts in Lahore on Thursday.

“Punjab is confronting a serious issue of rising smog levels, and burning of crop residue is adding further to air pollution,” she said. The chief minister said the provincial government was committed to making Punjab an ideal province, with district-by-district beautification plans underway. She expressed concern over delays in implementing the plans in some areas. She criticised the Okara deputy commissioner for failing to give adequate attention to crop-residue burning in the district.

Maryam ordered the formation of special squads to improve governance and road maintenance. She also directed deputy commissioners to repair water filtration plants in their districts and instructed deputy commissioners and additional deputy commissioners to visit hospitals daily and ensure medical facilities were available to patients.

During the meeting, Shoaib Mirza, adviser to the chief minister on the Punjab Performance Management Unit, presented a performance report covering Gujranwala, Attock, Bahawalpur, Murree, Chakwal, Jhelum, Layyah and Sahiwal. The chief minister also called for Punjab to be made free of encroachments and stressed coordinated operations to address the issue.

The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) is stepping up enforcement against illegal housing schemes, issuing final notices to non-compliant projects and preparing to seek the disconnection of their electricity and gas supplies.

The RDA’s Metropolitan Planning and Traffic Engineering Directorate has developed the enforcement strategy in coordination with its Enforcement Squad, according to official sources. The plan targets unauthorized residential developments operating without approved layouts and required clearance certificates. Under the proposed action, the authority will write to the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), recommending that utility connections to illegal schemes be disconnected.

The RDA has also instructed developers, builders and housing scheme managements to register on its Housing Scheme Management System (HSMS) portal within the stipulated timeframe. Those who fail to comply could face legal proceedings, the sealing of site offices and the demolition of unauthorized structures.

The authority plans to issue public notices warning citizens against investing in unapproved housing projects. It has urged prospective buyers to verify a scheme’s legal status through the RDA’s official website before purchasing residential or commercial property.

The Punjab cabinet has unanimously deferred a proposal to cut the commercialisation fee from 20% to 10% of a property’s DC valuation, leaving applicants without immediate relief.
Sources said the fee for declaring a property commercial currently stands at 20% of its DC valuation. In anticipation of the proposed reduction, many property owners had waited for the rate to fall, and several had not paid challans issued for commercialisation cases.

The proposal was deferred amid concerns that the reduction could cause significant losses to the public exchequer. The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) could also face a substantial annual shortfall in commercialisation fee revenue.