Riverbank dining: CDA eats four peons’ salaries at a routine meeting
The meeting was moved out of CDA headquarters to discuss the water level at Simly Dam.
ISLAMABAD:
The money the Capital Development Authority (CDA) could have used to pay four of its peons was used instead to foot the bill for a lunch at a routine meeting.
The meeting was held at Simly Dam Resthouse because CDA Chairman Farkhand Iqbal likes “peace of mind”, according to the CDA spokesperson.
Another CDA official, asking not to be named, told The Express Tribune that items on the menu for the lunch included chicken tikkas, karahi, kababs and other barbecued dishes, followed by desserts. The guest list, almost 20 people, included a platoon of CDA officials including all members, and directors general and their staff.
The bill came out to Rs50,000. This comes out to almost Rs2,500 per person, rivalling some of the most expensive fine dining restaurants in the city.
All this at a time when the agency has had its power supply cut off for two weeks due to non-payment of dues. The wages of the CDA staff, too, have been held up for months due to the financial crunch that the CDA says it is going through.
The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the water situation in Simly Dam and a briefing by Planning Director-General Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu on upcoming projects.
An official who attended the meeting said that while CDA Chairman Iqbal was briefed about the water situation in the dam and Sindhu did give his briefing, pending court cases in the Islamabad High Court against high-ranking CDA officials formed the bulk of the discussion.
The source said many CDA officials agree that such meetings should be held in the chairman’s office to avoid unnecessary expenditure. “I feel that a sensible chairman would never take such a step and just waste resources at a time when the department is short of funds and mired in controversy,” said a senior CDA official requesting anonymity.
Another top official said that this meeting could have been arranged in the CDA headquarter without wasting fuel and dining costs.
CDA Spokesperson Masoodur Rehman said the rest house was chosen because there is less noise and work can be done with complete peace of mind, “which the chairman likes”. He explained that a number of people come to visit the chairman and disturb him at the office, so they moved the meeting.
He also claimed that the expenditure on food was lower than Rs50,000. Rehman added that Iqbal was satisfied with the status of upcoming projects.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2012.
The money the Capital Development Authority (CDA) could have used to pay four of its peons was used instead to foot the bill for a lunch at a routine meeting.
The meeting was held at Simly Dam Resthouse because CDA Chairman Farkhand Iqbal likes “peace of mind”, according to the CDA spokesperson.
Another CDA official, asking not to be named, told The Express Tribune that items on the menu for the lunch included chicken tikkas, karahi, kababs and other barbecued dishes, followed by desserts. The guest list, almost 20 people, included a platoon of CDA officials including all members, and directors general and their staff.
The bill came out to Rs50,000. This comes out to almost Rs2,500 per person, rivalling some of the most expensive fine dining restaurants in the city.
All this at a time when the agency has had its power supply cut off for two weeks due to non-payment of dues. The wages of the CDA staff, too, have been held up for months due to the financial crunch that the CDA says it is going through.
The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the water situation in Simly Dam and a briefing by Planning Director-General Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu on upcoming projects.
An official who attended the meeting said that while CDA Chairman Iqbal was briefed about the water situation in the dam and Sindhu did give his briefing, pending court cases in the Islamabad High Court against high-ranking CDA officials formed the bulk of the discussion.
The source said many CDA officials agree that such meetings should be held in the chairman’s office to avoid unnecessary expenditure. “I feel that a sensible chairman would never take such a step and just waste resources at a time when the department is short of funds and mired in controversy,” said a senior CDA official requesting anonymity.
Another top official said that this meeting could have been arranged in the CDA headquarter without wasting fuel and dining costs.
CDA Spokesperson Masoodur Rehman said the rest house was chosen because there is less noise and work can be done with complete peace of mind, “which the chairman likes”. He explained that a number of people come to visit the chairman and disturb him at the office, so they moved the meeting.
He also claimed that the expenditure on food was lower than Rs50,000. Rehman added that Iqbal was satisfied with the status of upcoming projects.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2012.