LAHORE: Lahore’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA), once considered to be a model far better than the ones located in Karachi or Islamabad, has become hostage to the corruption bug that seems to have afflicted every walk of life. Obtaining a completion certificate is no longer provided to residents without hiring the services of middlemen — either former employees or those closely related to the staff employed at the works department. Even after fulfilling all requirements following site inspection and submission for a certificate, a new series of anomalies are pointed out, unless an agent is hired. Complaints to senior executives only merit assurances — mere words — because, once having complained, the premium charged by the middleman only escalates.
DHA Lahore comes under the administrative control of the corp commander, Lahore. What is intriguing is that there are separate by-laws for residential and commercial buildings within DHA. Commercial buildings falling directly within the flight path of commercial airlines landing in Lahore have higher height ceiling permission than those located in phase one to phase four. DHA collects billions of rupees annually from civilians, who own houses and plots that they have bought at a premium from uniformed officers, but they are still discriminated against. It is time the GHQ ordered a clean-up of the mess created by the corruption mafia within DHA before it becomes as notorious as the DHA in Karachi. Otherwise, it will bring a bad name to the institution. The army should either disassociate from the DHA or revamp it to prevent the sullying image of our armed forces.
Riaz Chaudhry
Published in The Express Tribune, February 21st, 2013.
