Islamabad mayor wants gardeners back from other wings

IMC decides to allow firewood stalls in all sectors of the federal capital

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to boost its revenues, the local government of Islamabad has unanimously decided to revive toll plazas at the entry and exit points of the federal capital on Tuesday.

It was further decided to detach the environment wing from other departments to improve its performance while the chairman of each union council was directed to monitor the environment staff in their area.

This was decided during the 33rd session of the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) at the Pakistan-China Friendship Centre on Tuesday. The session was presided over by Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz.

During Tuesdays’ meeting, issues pertaining to car parking fees, restoring wood stalls, and the performance of IMC’s environment wing were discussed in detail.

Aziz said that that performance of the environment wing was suffering because its staff had been temporarily deputed in other departments, particularly gardeners.

To improve the performance of the wing, he suggested that all staffers deputed in other departments should be immediately repatriated to their original posts.

Moreover, the council decided that the chairman of each union council must try and work with environment officers and get them to perform efficiently.

Moreover, they were tasked with monitoring the activities of environment officers in their area and present a weekly report on their performance.

In view of gas shortage and the hike in gas prices, the IMC granted its approval for firewood stalls to be set up in all sectors of the city. In this regard, the opinion of the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) Planning Wing will also be sought.

The council also granted its unanimous approval for restoring toll plazas in the city to boost the local government’s revenues which will, in turn, be spent on providing more facilities to residents of the city.

The house decided to defer the issue of imposing parking fees in the federal capital under the Municipal Administration Directorate (MAD) of the IMC until its next session and directed the committee to submit suggestions in this regard by then.

Earlier, the session unanimously approved the minutes of the 32nd session of IMC. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2019.