LAHORE: Residents of Kapoorthala House, a pre-partition locality in Old Anarkali, have challenged acquisition of their properties for “Orange Line Metro Train Project” through a writ petition filed before the Lahore High Court.

Amjad Hasan Bhatti and others filed the petition through Advocate Azhar Siddique and asked the court to stop acquisition of their properties for being unlawful and in violation of fundamental rights protected in the Constitution.

Justice Shahid Karim would take up the petition on Friday (today).

The petitioners said the government in order to make the project successful had been acquiring land from citizens by hook or by crook. They said the government just for the sake of “cheap publicity” started a “white elephant” project at the cost of life and property of vulnerable and marginalised people of Lahore.

They said major portion of old heritage of the city, including General Post Office (GPO) and some part of Shalamar Gardens and Chauburji were being damaged to accommodate the project. They said requirements for land acquisition were not fulfilled while acquiring the citizens’ property.

They stated that the authorities badly failed to understand public interest as provision of healthcare facilities was more important than launching the train project, which was meant “to save time of elite class”.

The petitioners prayed to the court to strike down sections 4, 5, 5-A, 17 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 for being in violation of many provisions of the Constitution.

They prayed to the court that all process of acquisition, transfer of any fund or any action for establishment of the project be suspended and the respondents be restrained from taking any further steps in pursuance of land acquisition.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2015