RCB to conduct digital survey of its jurisdiction

Constructions halted after checkers issue notices to illegal buildings

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has decided to conduct a digital survey of all sites within its jurisdiction.

The project worth Rs30 million would be carried out by a team of experts who would be assisted by three cantonment officers. The exercise would include a record of all residential and commercials units, property numbers and other structures such as trees, pillars, water and electricity transmission lines, boundary pillars, roads etc.

It is worth mentioning that according to the 1924 Act, the RCB has not properly maintained a record of its infrastructure since its bifurcation. Moreover, the federal government and RCB still hold different opinions regarding the ownership of various areas.

Apart from this, most of the residential areas within RCB’s jurisdiction are out of tax net while no new commercial areas could be formed due to the absence of any road records.

RCB completes 22 projects worth Rs10.2m in three months

Illegal structures

A number of illegal structures, both residential and commercial, have been spotted in cantonment areas.

The authorities have issued notices to owners of 32 such buildings under sections 185 and 256 of the Cantonment Act.

The owners have been warned to submit fees of the building plan to save structures from demolition.

Meanwhile, the building checkers had already issued notices to illegal building owners after which construction of most of them had been halted. However, those not complying with the orders have been issued a final notice.

Increased charges

A 100percent increase in charges for development, security and conservation purposes has been suggested for commercial and residential buildings in the jurisdiction of the cantonment board.

In this regard, the proposal would be presented in a board meeting today.

The matter was delayed in the last meeting after strong backlash was witnessed from the elected representatives.

This increase would make it almost impossible for owners to pay recommended conservation charges while it is also expected that the measure would block ways for new constructions and alteration cases.

Facilitation centre

The Public Facilitation Centre of the RCB received 180 complaints regarding electricity, water supply and sanitation problems in the cantonment areas in the past week and resolved 140. According to RCB spokesman Qaiser Mehmood, the RCB's public facilitation centre received 78 complaints from the residents regarding electricity of which 65 were resolved, whereas out of 59 complaints regarding water supply 43 were resolved on an urgent basis.

Similarly, out of 43 complaints lodged by the residents relating to sanitation, 32 were resolved during the period. The spokesman said the Cantonment CEO Sibtain Raza had issued special instructions to officials of RCB's Public Facilitation Centre to address problems on an urgent basis so as to provide better facilities to the residents. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2019.