Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rawalpindi Cantonment Borad (RCB) Sheikh Shahid Bashir has said that the scarcity of water has almost been over as 9 million gallon of water is being brought from Khanpur Dam for the city on daily basis.
This year government has earmarked Rs 150 million for third phase of the Khanpur project but water problem of the town will not resolve completely until water from perennial Ghazi Barotha would not reach here, the CEO said while talking to members of business community during his visit to Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry RCCI here on Thursday.
As a matter of fact the biggest source of income of the board is the amount which it gets from the provincial government in lieu of octroi tax and out of this Excise and Taxation Department deducts its 15 percent share.
This year they deducted Rs 148 million as arrears from RCB's fund", he said. CEO RCB was of the view that there is not any tax culture here in Pakistan and people want to evade taxes. It is the matter of concern that in the jurisdiction of Rawalpindi Cantonment area almost one million people use to dwell but only 65,000 houses have been assessed for the tax purpose and total property tax revenue collects from these units is about Rs 150 million only.
He said that a twenty feet tall sign board on each shop is exempted from tax. He clarified that professional tax was earlier collected by Excise Department, but under a verdict of Supreme Court its collection has been transferred to Cantonment Boards.
He said that some people steal the manhole covers, bulb and even wires from the roads and streets. Similarly the theft of water through illegal connections and installing pumping motors directly on main lines and encroachments in the shopping areas are the common complaints. "Some time we have to use force or involve law enforcing agencies to curb these tendencies but then some political people start protests to save the skin of culprits", Sheikh Shahid told the gathering.
He said that by the efforts of Station Commander the Cantt area has also been included in Asian Development Bank funded project of REIP. In this regard hefty share of Rs 615 million on behalf of CB Rawalpindi will be paid by Punjab government. On the occasion President RCCI Asad Mashadi said that that people have lot of expectations from government functionaries.
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