‘Do not invest in illegal housing schemes’

Citizens asked to verify status of residential societies before investment

RAWALPINDI:

The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on Wednesday advised citizens not to invest in illegal housing schemes.

RDA Chairman Tariq Mehmood Murtaza said, “Citizens should check the status of housing societies from the Metropolitan Planning and Traffic Engineering (MPTE) Directorate, or they should visit the RDA website to know the status of the housing projects before any investment.”

He informed that the staff of the Directorate of MPTE, along with the police and the Elite Force was regularly conducting operations against illegal housing schemes. The site offices of the illegal housing projects were also being sealed while the booking offices were being demolished, he added.

Under a campaign launched against illegal housing societies, advertisements were also published in national dailies for awareness of the public, he added. He informed that the authority was conducting regular operations against rule violators including plazas, shops, schools and other illegal land use encroachments.

The Chairman said that the department imposed fines and a commercialisation fee was also collected from various residential-cum-commercial building owners for illegal construction without approval of map/No Objection Certificates (NOCs). He said that the authorities concerned had been directed to take strict action against encroachments, illegal and unauthorised constructions and commercial activities without any discrimination.

A One Window Operation Centre, equipped with modern facilities, was set up in RDA to facilitate the citizens, he said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2022.