The Station Commander of Rawalpindi has approved Rs 1,180.905 million budget for two of its cantonments for the fiscal 2006-07. The budget for Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) would be Rs 668.700 million while for Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) it would be Rs 512.205 million.
The development expenditure for RCB would be Rs 125.915 million which is 20.71 percent of the total budget whereas the development expenditure for CCB would be Rs 120 million, which is 25.79 percent of the total budget.
Station Commander Rawalpindi Brigadier Sajjad Azam Khan revealed this at a press briefing on Thursday. The Executive Officers of the two cantonment boards were also present. He said that the RCB would get Rs 355.850 millions from direct taxes and Rs105.550 would be collected through property transactions. The CCB would earn Rs 182.100 million from the taxes and Rs 80.605 from property transfers.
Station Commander told the journalists that the Rawalpindi Cantonment area, comprising RCB and CCB covers the total area of 65 square kilometers with the population of 0.627 million.
He said that the major concern of Rawalpindi is clean drinking water and the water table is going down with every passing day. Bringing water from Ghazi-Barotha dam would be a permanent solution. At the moment, cantonment boards are spending Rs 61 million to bring drinking water from Khanpur dam whereas Rs 358 million had been spent on setting up Sangjani Water Treatment Plant.
"I took up the water issue with the Chairman CDA who promised to provide one million gallons daily to resolve the crisis in cantonment area. Cantonment boards have laid down water supply lines in seven new housing schemes but due to shortage, it is not being supplied in these areas", he added.
Brigadier Sajjad said last year, both RCB and CCB completed 114 development schemes including construction and revamping of streets and roads, installation of water filtration plants in different localities, construction of wagon stand at Chungi No 22 and provision of drainage along all the main roads. "Both, RCB and CCB have evolved the policy that no road would be constructed without footpaths and drainage system. We would lay water supply lines before construction of any road in future", he added.
The Station Commander said that there was no regular funding from the government side for the cantonment boards. We have to rely upon our own sources for the development projects in cantonment area, he added.
RCB has decided to purchase 200 kanals of land in Chakri where the solid waste would be dumped. Executive Officer of RCB is busy in the negotiations with the owners of the land, he said.
He said there are seven housing societies working illegally in the jurisdiction of the Cantonment Board. "I have written to Ministry of Defence to allow the people to get approval of the site plans of their houses as a one time measure. After that anybody who constructs any building without prior permission will be dealt with severely", he added. He admitted the encroachment was a dilemma and the staff of both the cantonment boards had failed to tackle it.
Brigadier Khan said that it has been decided that development works would be carried out only in those areas where almost 70 percent population would pay house and water taxes. He said during the last four months six houses were demolished for not getting prior approval from the competent authority and disciplinary action was also initiated against corrupt officials.
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