Fire at Estate Office: mafia involved in incident to hide illegal allotments, National Assembly body told

The inquiry by the Ministry of Housing and Works revealed that the fire incident at the Estate Office, Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat was an intentional and deliberate act to hide illegal allotments, which caused estimated loss to the tune of Rs 4.15 million.
"The fire broke out on March 2, 2014 in the Estate office at the Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat where 90 per cent of the Estate Office record was burnt," said Tariq Faheem Sheikh, Deputy Chief Housing Ministry and head of the three-member inquiry committee while briefing the National Assembly Standing committee on Housing and Works, which met with Haji Muhammad Akram Ansari in the chair here on Wednesday.
Inquiry committee head further said that according to the findings officials of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Estate Office and Pak PDW 'mafia' was involved in the incident to hide illegal allotment of houses made in the past. All the documents/files placed in Record Room and two other rooms were turned into ashes along with furniture, computer set and fans. However, the record/data of allotment of government accommodation managed by Estate Office, Islamabad is safe in the computer of Estate office and with Ministry of Housing and Works.
According to the report, the corrupt persons have been failed in their plans and all actions of Estate office regarding management/allotments of houses as per rules continued. The committee has submitted the report to Minister of State for Housing and Works, Barrister Usman Ibrahim on Tuesday and recommended that the responsibility may be fixed besides recovery of the losses from the employees involved in the incident.
The minister said that the case would be sent to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) while FIR has already been launched in this regard. The minister said that some corrupt elements want to sabotage the smooth practice of allotments, as per general waiting list (GWL).
The committee directed Pak PWD to submit report about the total rooms, information about the residents of the Fatima Jinnah Hostel for Women; the entitled and non-entitled residents, after issues of favouritism, malpractices and harassment at the hostel were raised. The DG Pak PWD informed the committee that there are a total 81 rooms including 77 single and four family suits. About 48 allotted are satisfied with the management and the harassment /favouritism may be due to the allotment/cancellation of rooms, said DG, adding that the Minister has ordered for status quo till detailed scrutiny.
DG Legal of the Ministry informed the committee that there are several issues in Phase-IV including demolishing of Built Up Properties (BUP's) falling in the limits G-14/2 & 3 is still pending due to non announcement of award and due to this the infrastructure development work of G-14/2 & 3 is being disturbed. Assessment of BUP's falling in G-14/l, 2 &3, is very slow due to the limited access by the affectees. The Land Acquisition (LAC) staff is not available at the site to meet up the access from the affectees of G-14/1, 2 &3. The approval of the layout plan of G-15/3, 1,575 plots having size 25' x 50' and 45 kanals of commercial area is pending in the CDA for final approval. Action in this regard is still awaited by the CDA, he added.