River Land Part 1
What Future Awaits Housing Schemes Built on Lahore’s Riverbed and Floodplain?

Building along the riverbank is common across the world. But construction on the river land, whether in the bed, the flood channel, or the floodplain, is forbidden everywhere and regarded as a grave violation of both science and law.

It is important to distinguish between the riverbank and the river’s own land. Even when this land looks dry, it always remains part of the flood channel. It is land shaped by the river itself over thousands of years to absorb pressure and expansion during floods. In truth, it is the river’s natural property, a safeguard created by nature itself.

This land never loses its link with water. It is the space where the river expands and reclaims its full breadth during monsoon rains or heavy floods. To assume such land is unused or spare simply because it appears dry is a serious misconception. In reality, it is a permanent buffer zone and an essential element of ecological balance.

That is why construction here is considered an assault on the natural order. Across the world, such land is declared a Red Zone or No Build Area. History proves that the river always prevails. Whenever humans occupy its course, the river eventually breaks through and washes away everything in its path.

River Zones
Within this land different zones exist. The River Bed is the natural course where water flows. Even when dry, it still belongs to the river because rains or floods inevitably return water to the same channel. Beside it lies the Floodplain, the wider stretch that may look solid in ordinary days but fills rapidly during monsoon or flood conditions. This land is not vacant or free. It is a natural cushion created to disperse overflow and absorb pressure.

For this reason, official land records in the Revenue Department classify such areas clearly as river land or flood channel. And for the same reason, construction there is strictly prohibited by law. It endangers human life and destroys ecological balance.

Illegal Housing Schemes
Yet in Lahore it has been revealed that some housing societies have been built directly on the Ravi’s bed and floodplain, with plots sold at premium prices. This is both troubling and astonishing, because under normal circumstances even the most powerful individuals cannot build on river land, let alone entire housing schemes. Such projects become possible only when government departments and authorities either fail in their duty or choose to look the other way.

Who is Responsible?

1. Irrigation Department – Responsible for regulating river flow, managing flood channels, and maintaining embankments. No construction can lawfully proceed without its approval.

2. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – Requires a complete Environmental Impact Assessment for every development. If a project threatens the ecosystem, river flow, or public health, the agency is bound to deny approval.

3. Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) – Formally oversees planning and scheme approvals but cannot act independently. It must secure clearances from irrigation, environment, and other relevant departments before granting permission.

4. Lahore Development Authority (LDA) – Custodian of master plans, zoning, and maps. It carries the duty to ensure that land use is consistent with its legal classification and that all required permissions are in place before any project begins.

5. Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) – Charged with identifying flood risks and declaring unsafe zones. It has the power to halt construction in flood prone areas but often fails to exercise this authority.

6. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) – Provides national level policy, hazard mapping, and flood zoning. It supplies satellite based data and guidance to provinces and must ensure that construction in dangerous zones is prevented.

7. Revenue Department – Maintains land records and legal classifications, marking areas as river land or flood channels. If such land is wrongly leased or sold for construction, the department bears responsibility.

8. District Administration (Deputy Commissioner) – The most powerful authority at the district level, able to stop illegal construction immediately through orders or enforcement. Allowing entire schemes to proceed without intervention reflects administrative failure.

9. Lahore Metropolitan Corporation (LMC) – Provides civic services including water, sewerage, waste management, and electricity connections. Extending these facilities to illegal housing schemes makes this body directly accountable.

10. Provincial Housing and Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department – Oversees overall housing policy and supervises development authorities. It is obliged to prevent schemes that contradict provincial planning and environmental standards.

11. Provincial Government – Ultimately, the collective oversight of the provincial government binds all these institutions. The emergence of illegal schemes on river land reflects not only individual departmental negligence but systemic failure at the provincial level.

Each of these institutions carries the legal authority to prevent unlawful construction. The fact that entire housing societies exist on the Ravi’s bed and floodplain shows that institutional safeguards failed, or worse, were deliberately ignored.

To be continued in the next part.