Senate seeks reply from CDA

Ten senior CDA officials given lucrative residential plots five years ago, decade-old employees awaiting allotments.

ISLAMABAD: The Adviser to the Prime Minister Ghazanfar Ali Gill on Friday informed the Senate that CDA had provided lucrative residential plots to ten of its senior officials in Islamabad during the last five years.

Minister In-charge of the Cabinet disclosed the details when Senator Ismail Buledi posed questions about the names of Capital Development Authority officials who were allotted plots in Islamabad during the last five years, their length of service and the size and location of plots in each case.

Former CDA chairman Kamran Lashari is among the officials who were able to get lucrative plots. A case of misuse of power is already pending against him with the Supreme Court.

Other officials include Kamran Qureshi, former finance advisor of CDA, Shaukat Mohmand, member administration and Brig Nusrat Ullah, former member planning.

Other names include Brig Ghulam Akbar Bukhari, former member engineering, Brig (r) Asad Munir, former member estate and admin, Moinuddin Kakakhel, former member engineering, Sikandar Hayyat Maken, former member admin, Tanveer Bukhari, former member (P&D) and SM Farooqi, member estate.

During the Question Hour session in the upper house, Senator Talha Mahmood asked details of the buildings, shops, hotels and restaurants owned by CDA and the location of the ones currently rented or leased out. The Senate also inquired about the names of the persons to whom the buildings were rented or leased out, and the amount of rent or lease in each case.

Minister Incharge of the Cabinet Division replied that he would give answers after getting details from the concerned quarters.

Responding to another question, he said 1335 employees are working in CDA on daily wages while services of 441 daily wagers have been regularised.

Sources inside the Capital Development Authority told The Express Tribune that more than 100 files of serving CDA officials are pending with incumbent CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi for allotment of plots. Some of them are serving in the authority since 1980 but could not be considered, while majority of the privileged officials served a year or two in the CDA but were bestowed lucrative 600 sq. yard plots in a posh sector of the federal capital city.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2010.