Action against kiosks: Senators question civic agency’s selective drive

Senate committee asked to report in fortnight.

ISLAMABAD: Raising questions over the Capital Development Authority (CDA)’s recent drive against kiosks in the federal capital, Senate Chairperson Raza Rabbani on Monday entrusted the matter to the standing committee on cabinet and asked it to report back on the matter in two weeks time.

Rabbani issued the instructions after Parliamentary Affairs State Minister Sheikh Aftab Ahmed failed to justify the reason behind demolition of 320 out of 485 kiosks in the city.

The minister informed the house that the administration was in the middle of demolition drive that it was stopped.



However, he did not name the authority or official who had issued instructions to the CDA.

“This is selective justice, I smell something fishy in it,” Rabbani said, while adding if a decision was taken then all 485 kiosks should have been demolished.

At this point, the minister said “You know it well [the selective demolition],” to which Rabbani replied “then it is not fair.”

The minister said that kiosks were allotted to people in 1985, when the city was being built as a temporary arrangement.

“The CDA wanted people to continue their business but there was massive encroachment by all those who had been given contracts,” he added.



The CDA cancelled all the contracts in 2013, and formally informed the people to vacate their kiosks.

Meanwhile, Senator Javed Abbasi from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said that the minister could not defend the CDA, and should look into the issue.

He said that they did not support encroachments, and that illegal kiosks should be demolished but those who were paying fee to the CDA had legal rights, and should not be deprived of the right to earn their livelihood.

Senator Abbasi, while referring to a committee meeting said that the CDA members had told that “‘there are as many as 109 illegal housing societies in the city’, and yet no one can dare to take action against them.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2015.