A controversial steering committee of the Islamabad Development Package (IDP) Wednesday directed Islamabad administration and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to speed up the development projects in rural areas.
This is despite CDA having nothing to do with rural areas and the constitutional status of the committee itself being a source of contention.
The one-member committee is supposed to overlook the development projects in NA-49, which includes Malpur village, Bhara Kahu, Plugran and Sawan, among other areas. However all items on the committee’s agenda were about development projects in Malpur village and Bhara Kahu, close to Senator Nayyar Hussain Bokhari’s home. Senator Bokhari is the sole member of the committee and was elected Member of National Assembly from NA-49 in 2002 general elections, but failed to win the seat in 2008.
CDA Chairperson Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, Islamabad Chief Commissioner Tariq Mahmood Pirzada, Deputy Commissioner Amir Ali Ahmad and Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) Chairperson and other officials of the Islamabad administration attended the meeting.
Pirzada, when asked, said he is not aware of the exact mandate of the committee and he attended the meeting because he was asked by the leader of the house to. Elahi had a similar response.
During the meeting, Bokhari said he feared that encroachers will succeed in grabbing public land if it was not utilised for Federal Government Women Degree College and a traffic bypass at Bhara Kahu. He also asked the Islamabad administration to complete other pending projects, like District Hospital and Basic Health Unit, in NA-49.
Senator Bokhari told the committee that long-term planning is necessary to overcome the water and traffic problems of the city. He asked CDA Chairperson to ensure supply of water to ICT water reservoirs at Bhara Kahu and to chalk out a mass transit system for Islamabad based on Delhi model plan.
Elahi said that a mass transit system like Delhi for a small city such as Islamabad is unfeasible. He said more than 250,000 enter Islamabad every day and the Rapid Bus Service project CDA is working on will be sufficient for their needs. He did not commit to supplying 0.1 million gallons of water to Bhara Kahu daily, either.
Senator Bokhari said that if CDA and ICT started mega projects he could get EOBI and the Planning Commission to release funds.
When asked about the status of the committee and controversial agenda of the meeting, Senator Bokhari said that he has already convened five such meetings of the committee. He said it is not a bad thing if the committee is reviewing the progress of the projects of his constituency. People from NA-49 were also present in the meeting and Senator Bokhari asked CDA Chairperson to resolve their personal issues.
Senator Bokhari said that in its next meeting, the committee will discuss the issues of model villages of Islamabad and allotment of plots to retired CDA employees.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ