On CDA’s home turf: Union Councils find themselves helpless

Sector G-7 suffers owing to bureaucracy’s iron grip on resources

ISLAMABAD: If there is one official of the ruling party who is hoping that the new government will bring about a sea change in the way things are operating, then it is the chairman of Union Council-31.

The area is plagued with a host of civic and utility issues for which local government representatives blame the callousness of the civic authority.

Located in Sector G-7 of the capital, the union council covers major commercial centres and residential colonies including Sitara Market, Khadda Market, Bank Colony, Faisal Colony, Muslim Colony, Shopper Colony, Allama Iqbal Colony and Christian Colony where more than 45,000 people live, including 20,000 registered voters.

A survey of the area conducted by Daily Express showed that there is a dire need for replacing the sewerage and water supply lines in the sector. The condition of the streets in the sector is nothing to write home about and have not been improved over the past two and a half years.

A plan for building a food park in the Sector G-7 Markaz has not been implemented even though space for the park has already been reserved.

There are a number of sporting grounds and clubs in the UC, especially for cricket and football. But youngsters have to pay to be able to play at these grounds with their condition not too great either.

The water supply system has not seen any improvement over the past 2.5 years with tube wells set up over drains in certain places, which is hazardous for health. There is also the issue of leakage in the water and sewerage lines in various places of the UC due to which sewerage water mixes with clean water and this is extremely dangerous for the public

A vast majority of street lights in the UC are not working with work on them pending for the past 30 months. Government schools in the area are in a state of disrepair and insufficient measures have been taken to fully repair them with complaints not uncommon.

The chairman for Union Council (UC) 31 is Ahmed Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). While the PTI is in power in the centre now, this was not the case when Ahmed was first elected to the seat 30 months ago and he had to spend most of his tenure in a minuscule opposition in the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC).

Ahmed and other local government representatives said that in the time they have been elected, they have been as helpless as the residents of the area since they had no powers or authority, no staff, no funds, they did not even get an office to base their operations out of.

“The UC next to us has an office but we do not have it,” the UC chairman said, adding that those union council chairmen who hailed from the then ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were rewarded with funds and manpower by the IMC.

However, as far as civil works are concerned, he held the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) — with whom the local government share a lot of functions, resources and funds — as the biggest impediment.

“The staff of the CDA is present on paper but cannot be seen on the ground,” he said.

What makes it worse is the fact that the headquarters of CDA is located in Sector G-7 as well.

“The maintenance and decoration of the parks are not being carried out,” Ahmed said, adding that a park located close to his home does not have any boundary wall. Moreover, the swings in the park are broken.

He pointed out that the power wires in the area passed openly over the parks and pose a danger to the children playing below.

Slums located in the UC face a shortage of water, electricity, and gas. Residents of these settlements worry every time it rains, fearful of rainwater flooding their homes since they are mostly located on the banks of large storm drains and canals.

The drug trade is also under way and there is a need to take immediate steps to stop this, Ahmed said.

UC-31 Vice Chairman Engineer Zahid Mehmood, Labor Councilor Muhammad Junaid told Daily Express that while the CDA staff continues to draw salary, they do not turn up to do their work.

They added that previously, the cleaning system was in proper working order but it has deteriorated most rapidly, especially after it was handed over to contractors.

Moreover, he said that there was a real threat of flooding in the sector during the rainy season owing to lack of cleaning and dredging of the three canals which pass through the locality.

They termed the fee charged from youngsters from playing in what is essentially CDA’s ground as an injustice to the youth of the UC.

Even the dispensaries lack services and the staff are seldom present, they said.

The CDA itself colludes in encroachment and then comes back to remove it. Residents of the area and other office bearers of the union council said that the street in front of the Chenab Market was in poor condition. Despite repeated requests, it has not been repaired.

The CDA inquiry staff is present but they are not working, even though they collect five per cent as a tax.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2018.