Ring Road scandal widens

Officials removed from their posts in connection with the issuance of a no-objection certificate (NOC) for a service area along the Rawalpindi Ring Road had granted approvals in stark contrast to normal practice, sources told The Express Tribune on Tuesday.

The controversy led to the removal of the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Director General of the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and several other officials from their posts.

Sources familiar with the matter said all approvals for the project were processed with unusual speed, in stark contrast to normal practice, under which similar planning and land-use cases often remain pending for several months.

The sources further said the sequence of events began after Kinza Murtaza, then Director General of the RDA, was removed from office on 31 January 2026 following the emergence of an alleged financial scandal involving more than Rs2 billion. She was subsequently posted as Director General of the Agency for Barani Area Development (ABAD), while Rawalpindi Commissioner Engineer Abdul Aamir Khattak was assigned the additional charge of DG RDA.

However, before relinquishing her post, the former DG RDA allegedly approved the declaration of a service area on the Ring Road and issued the Right of Way NOC for its access to the motorway through a backdated order dated January 18, 2026.

Following the issuance of the NOC, a meeting of the District Planning and Design Committee (DPDC) was held on February 11 to grant the remaining approvals. However, questions have since been raised over whether the meeting was actually held in accordance with the prescribed procedures.

Sources claimed that no advance agenda for the DPDC meeting was circulated. They further alleged that while four or five additional agenda items were reportedly included, their nature and deliberations have yet to be independently verified.

The speed with which the approvals were granted has drawn particular scrutiny. During the tenure of former Deputy Commissioner Waqar Hassan Cheema, routine DPDC meetings were typically held only at intervals of six to eight months.

As a result, numerous applications seeking commercialisation and change of land use remained pending for extended periods in the offices of the Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi and the District Council, despite the fact that their approval would have generated millions of rupees in government revenue.