RMC approves Rs2 billion development projects
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The Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has approved development projects for 46 union councils (UCs) worth over Rs2 billion.
These development schemes had been forwarded by chairmen of union councils Rawalpindi.
Rawalpindi Mayor Sardar Naseem Khan said that they have been restored on the orders of the Supreme Court and the doors of the top court were opened if their recommended schemes were not implemented.
The meeting of RMC was convened by Deputy Mayor Chaudhry Tariq Mehmood.
The participants tabled resolutions regarding encroachments, graveyards, sealed roads and water supply issues.
The mayor told the house that they will spend Rs200 million on the construction of the Dhamyal Rakh graveyard on 100 kanals of land owned by the corporation. He said that three buses will also be provided for the graveyard.
The elected representatives strongly reacted against the absence of Chief Officer Ali Abbas Bukhari.
Chairman Raja Mushtaq called the chief officer the ‘ringleader of the encroachment mafia’.
He claimed that Rs40 million were received from the encroachers but encroachments were still there. He said that they will take to the streets with the masses if encroachments were not removed.
He also suggested changing the anti-encroachment staff and complete confiscation of the seized items during the anti-encroachments drives.
The elected UC chairmen recommended the formation of a monitoring committee to oversee the anti-encroachment drives.
At this, Municipal Officer Regulation Imran Ali sought one week's time to remove encroachments from the city.
The mayor assured the regulation official that he would not receive any call for a week from anyone and if he failed to remove the encroachments, the chairmen’s committee will take the task into its own hands.
Chairman Malik Anjum Farooq Paracha, who belongs to the PPP, citing the federal and provincial ministers, said that they say that the elected representatives were for the time being and their development schemes will not be implemented.
At this, the house vowed to defend itself while the mayor announced that the doors of the top court were opened for them if their development schemes were not implemented.
The house also approved a resolution against the dumping of waste material in and on the banks of nullahs.
In another resolution, the corporation demanded the annulment of an exorbitant rise in its rental properties and approved a 10 per cent increase annually.
A resolution for renaming a roundabout on Railway Workshop Road after Raja Kamran Hussain Shaheed was also approved during the meeting.
The meeting also approved increasing the fee for slaughterhouses, bus stands and public washrooms.
The participants also approved resolutions for auctioning a seven-month contract of the slaughterhouse for Rs30 million and exclusion of four parking lots from the parking contract.
The UC chairmen presented different resolutions during the meeting and demanded that all of them should be implemented.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2021.