Monal restaurant sealed due to illegal construction activities

The Islamabad administration has sealed off the Monal restaurant and arrested two of its workers for degrading the beauty of the Margalla hills and cutting down trees and unauthorized expansion.

Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Hamza Shafqat told media that the management of Monal Restaurant, located on Margalla Hills, has been sealed for cutting down trees and vegetation from the vicinity without the permission of the Environmental Department of the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

It should be remembered that the Margalla Hills area is included in the National Park where cutting down trees without permission is prohibited.

The District Administration conducted the raid on the evening of 18th May and it was then noted that the circulating images of destruction activities on social media were genuine. An FIR was lodged in the Police Station Kohsar. In addition, a case was simultaneously fixed in the larger bench of the Supreme Court regarding stone crushing and the protection of Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP).

According to sources, the Monal administration has told the CDA that they have cleaned the grass and trees on the instructions of the military grassland as there were snakes in the surrounding bushes and there was a danger of fire.

However, the Supreme Court on Tuesday restrained the expansion of Monal Restaurant, a popular eatery in the protected Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP).

The SC was told that former CDA chairman Kamran Lashari had allowed Monal to be constructed in the national park.

A five-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed also ordered the Islamabad administration to replant trees that were felled during the attempted expansion.

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