Land in Loi Bher was earmarked for the Journalists Colony, which was launched by the CM Punjab on November 20, 2006. During the planning stage, a private developer offered to construct 150-feet wide central road to the Colony at his expense. According to the government sources, this goodwill gesture had a huge financial benefit for the developer’s own township, which is located towards the west and south of the Colony. Later the government found that the road was constructed in a manner that it encroached the forestland and also the colony plots.
In spite of thae fact that government probe confirmed the action taken against the developer was justified, Housing Secretary Khalid Sultan was asked to sit at home and Information Secretary Taimur Azmat Usman was also made an OSD. Usman’s crime was that he gave his consent to Sultan for the removal of the encroachment.
Earlier, Khalid Sultan was made officer on special duty (OSD) on May 19, 2007, within an hour of the demolition of the developer’s wall which had encroached upon the land of the Journalists Colony while he was still standing on the site supervising the anti-encroachment operation.
According to sources, Khalid Sultan, after verifying the extent of the encroachment, got a go ahead signal from the CM Secretariat, the secretary information and others and had then launched the operation against the encroachment.