ISLAMABAD:
The capital city bosses, mostly from District Management Group, seem to be more powerful than the judiciary and audit watchdog. They have proved this notion by defying Islamabad High Court orders and recommendations of the Auditor-General of Pakistan at least in the case of the Diplomatic Enclave Shuttle Service.
Despite court and auditor’s orders, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is adamant to produce the documents relating to the award of contract to run the bus service, said an official in the authority on condition of anonymity on Wednesday.
The service is being run by a private transporter with the help of CDA officials without the approval of Islamabad Transport Authority (ITA).
The transport authority has declared the service “illegal” and initiated an inquiry in this regard. But the CDA officials responsible for awarding the contract to the transporter refused to cooperate with the inquiry body.
A group of concerned citizens have also taken CDA to court for allowing such an expensive transport service in the capital.
Sources in the civic body told The Express Tribune that the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) in its audit report for 2010-11 has observed that a file regarding Visa Seeker Facilities in Diplomatic Enclave was not provided for audit even after the issue was brought to the notice of CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi as well as Cabinet Division Secretary Nargis Sethi.
In his recommendations, the AGP has recommended disciplinary action against the responsible officials. The auditor’s report specifically pinpointed Director General Planning Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu for not producing nine files during local inspection. Eight files were later provided for audit on the intervention of Tahir Shamshad, Member Planning.
Despite all these efforts, the file about the Diplomatic Shuttle Service was not provided for audit.
The auditor observed that CDA did not give any assurance to rectify the illegality in the award and management of the Diplomatic Shuttle Service, the sources said.
Sindhu, when contacted, said “ITA has no right to probe us because the shuttle service is not like other general public transport service.”
Visitors coming from far and wide of the country have to pay exorbitant fares for a ride to the diplomatic enclave as no other transport is allowed to enter the area for security reasons. The transport authority had ordered an inquiry to know the facts about the controversial deal between the owner of Diplomatic Shuttle Service and CDA, but the latter refused to present full details before the ITA probe committee.
Secretary of ITA told The Express Tribune that the shuttle service is operating illegally because it did not have the approval of ITA. The secretary said, “It is necessary to get ITA’s approval before introducing a transport service in the jurisdiction of the capital territory. But CDA did not do that.”
Sindhu on the other hand replied, “It is entirely an internal issue of CDA. We are running this shuttle service under Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) system so ITA cannot question the deal.” Sources in Islamabad administration confirmed that the probe committee found irregularities in the affairs of the shuttle service. The probe committee’s finding reveal that the contract had been awarded without open bidding, as necessitated by CDA rules.
The company that was awarded the project is owned by Muhammad Hussain. “The owner of the shuttle service is charging the visitors at will and charges even for the traveller’s hand luggage as ‘shuttle service tax’,” a report compiled by the committee revealed. Similarly parking fee and prices of refreshment items are also really high, as complained by visitors.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2011.
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