CMO Kiyani briefs the council on the reasons for dividing Islamabad into five zones. PHOTO: FILE
Members of the opposition in the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) hailing from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) slammed IMC Mayor and Capital Development Authority (CDA) chief Sheikh Anser Aziz and IMC’s Chief Metropolitan Officer Asad Mehboob Kiyani.
The opposition members were of the view that if the CDA had banned new utility connections in the capital on court orders to curb illegal construction, then why and how CADD Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry was inaugurating new electric poles and handing out new gas and electricity meters at housing societies in the capital.
They noted that illegal construction continues unabated around Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry’s house and that all these illegal constructions were being provided with utility connections, allegedly on Chaudhry’s directions.
Earlier when the session began, CMO Kiyani briefed the council on the reasons for dividing Islamabad into five zones.
At this, Opposition Leader Ali Awan asked him why the Shah Allah Ditta locality was not included in Zone-I and was instead shown to be part of Zone-III.
Some other members of the council criticised CDA for amending the zones without consulting the council. They also alleged that the zoning exercise appears to have benefited owners of certain large private housing societies.
Raja Zahid, who hails from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), complained how the council had been debating the issue of electricity and gas metres for the last six months, and based on current lack of interest among officials, it seemed that the debate would continue for the next six months as well without reaching any concrete solution.
The treasury benches member also criticised the mayor, noting that if the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif could gift Aziz with two key posts in the capital, then why did he not allocate sufficient funds for the IMC.
“In fact, you [Aziz] took the benefits for yourself, but never asked him [Nawaz] for any support for Islamabad,” Zahid said sarcastically and suggested to work on providing of meters and other utility connections in the rural areas of the capital.
He alleged that corruption was at its peak in the CDA with officials busy greasing their palms on the pretext of granting no-objection certificates for meters. In this regard, Zahid claimed that metres which used to cost Rs5,000 but were now being issued after collecting Rs25,000 bribe from customers.
Zahid alleged said that if the people have to bribe CDA officials for metres, it means that the chairman must have fixed a rate for the bribe.
Moreover, he pointed out that that construction on green belts was continuing unabatedly in connivance with CDA officials.
Aziz, though, defended his actions and that of the CDA.
“House members should suggest a solution instead of mere criticism,” Aziz said, clarifying that the CDA had not issued a single NOC after the court barred provision of metres.
He said that building by-laws had been promulgated and implemented eradicate and control illegal construction activities and to preserve the natural beauty of the only planned city in the country.
Further, to facilitate residents of the capital, the IMC had established a separate department of Building Control, which had devised SOPs to strictly enforce building by-laws and stop illegal constructions whilst regulating rapid construction activities in the city.
Following suggestions from IMC members, Aziz approved a move to form a committee on eliminating illegal construction activities in the capital and remove hurdles in issuing NOCs for the provision of electricity and gas facility to the residential and commercial buildings. The committee has been directed to file its recommendations within a week.
Talking about the hike in property, water taxes and other allied charges, Aziz explained that these were last revised in 2001.
The council, though, decided to form a committee which would review increases in property tax, water charges and other allied charges, and submit a detailed report in the house.
The house also passed a resolution for allocating a quota for jobs in federal institutions for Islamabad Capital Territory.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2017.
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