The Punjab government has initiated a comprehensive crackdown on illegal housing societies across the province, with over 5,000 schemes declared unapproved. In a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, key decisions were made to regularize these societies, streamline the approval process, and protect the public from fraudulent developers.
During the meeting, officials revealed that Punjab is home to 7,905 housing societies covering nearly 2 million kanals of land. Of these, only 2,687 have been approved, while 5,118 are either illegal or still in the process of getting approval. The chief minister expressed serious concern over the scale of unregulated development and directed immediate reforms.
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Maryam Nawaz ordered the elimination of unnecessary NOCs for the registration of housing societies, emphasizing that the process should be made easier and more effective for citizens. She questioned why relevant authorities remained silent when these illegal schemes were being developed and held some government departments responsible for allowing such practices to continue unchecked.
The meeting concluded with the decision to form a high-level committee to design a regularization mechanism for illegal societies. The Punjab government also announced plans to fully digitalize the housing sector by launching a “Housing Society Management System,” which will handle approvals, transfers, and payments online.
Maryam Nawaz said that it is unjust to collect money from the poor without delivering plots, and stressed the need to offer a one-time amnesty to existing schemes that can comply with legal standards. She pledged swift action to resolve the matter in accordance with the law.
