Monal Restaurant Sealed for Illegal Construction
The Pak-EPA and the Chief Commissioner's Office sealed Monal Restaurant in Islamabad for illegal construction activities and felling trees for expansion.
On May 19, the Ministry of Climate Change stated that the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) and the Chief Commissioner’s Office sealed Monal Restaurant in Islamabad for illegal construction activities and felling trees for expansion.
Monal Restaurant in Islamabad is based in the Margalla Hill National Park, where construction activity is usually considered illegal.
Farzana Altaf Shah, the Director General of the Pak-EPA, dismissed the rumors that Monal’s management had cleared the wild vegetation to protect the property and visitors from summer forest fires. According to Shah, eight to nine kanals of land were cleared. She added:
Management of restaurants disregard environmental laws and look for loopholes to violate rules. Let’s not forget that these commercial spaces were built without environmental approvals in the first place. In this case, the restaurant has undertaken construction activities to expand premises.
Ministry of Climate Change on Monal Restaurant’s Construction Activities
Mohammed Saleem, the media focal person of the Ministry of Climate Change, stated that Monal’s illegal construction activities were brought to the attention of the Adviser to the Prime (APM) Minister Malik Amin Aslam. It was under the APM’s direction that the Pak-EPA took action against those who were responsible.
According to Mr Saleem, the photos of the felling trees and land levelling were circulated on the social media, and the raid that was carried out corroborated with the images. During this raid, 2 people were arrested and the FIR was lodged at Kohsar Police.
A case about the stone crushing and the protection of the Margalla Hills National Park was lodged in the Supreme Court. The SC issued an order to immediately stop any construction activities that were taking place in the park.
Mr Saleem further added that the Pak-EPA took action against all restaurants in the Margalla Hills National Park that were constructed without any environmental approval and were damaging the ecosystem as well as increasing the pollution in the locale.
MCI Plants Trees After Monal Got Sealed
The Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) has started to plant the trees on the land that had been illegally cleared for the Monal’s construction activities, after the restaurant got sealed. 1,125 saplings will be planted there in the first phase of the plantation, out of which 300 wild promegranate, kachnar and altamas saplings were planted on Tuesday.
Monal’s illegal construction activities had been taking place for a few months and had stopped until recently. The Chief Commissioner stated that two notices had been issued to the restaurant owners in the last few months by MCI’s environmental wing, but no practical action had been taken until now.
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