The lawmakers in Senate on Monday warned that the beautiful city of Islamabad might soon turn into the ugliest city if appropriate measures are not taken by Capital Development Authority (CDA) to stop violation of its master plan. Speaking on a motion, moved by Senator Chaudhary Tanveer Khan of the ruling government, to discuss the need and importance to review master plan of the federal capital, the senators from both treasury and opposition blamed the civic body for not implementing the city's master plan.
Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani said that the proper implementation on Islamabad master plan is a big task for the CDA, which even has not put the original drawing prepared for the Senate Hall. "What to talk about the master plan's implementation, the original drawings for the Senate Hall are missing," he regretted the incompetence of the civic body.
Senator Tanveer said that the city had proper master plan which was supposed to be revived after every twenty years, adding in 1992 the city was divided into five zones, but then it was also not properly followed; hence the CDA is turning one of most beautiful capitals of the world into a dirty city. He warned if proper action is not taken by all parliamentarians, Islamabad will lose its beauty and glorification as enough damage has already been done to its beauty due to incompetence of the civic body.
However, State Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division, Dr Fazal Chaudhry said that the government is making all-out efforts to ensure proper implementation of the master plan, adding a building control authority is also being set up on the special directives of the Prime Minister, which will be helpful in halting illegal constructions in the capital.
Senator Javed Abbasin of the ruling government questioned whether the original master plan of Islamabad still exists, adding the things are taking place and with rise in housing societies, it shows there is no master plan for capital at all. Speaking on a motion moved by Senator Kulsum Perveen about rehabilitation of Temporarily Dislocated Persons (TDPs) of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Lieutenant General Abdul Qadir Baloch (retd) claimed that out of a total of seven agencies, only TDPs belonging to North and South Waziristan Agencies are yet to go back.
"All TDPs from five agencies, except North and South Wazirstan Agencies, have gone back and some people from North and South Waziristan Agencies have also gone back, while the remaining TDPs will also be rehabilitated soon," he added. He said that the military and civil administration has signed an agreement for ten years to restore the damaged infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals and roads, on priority basis as normalcy has returned to the areas after the menace of terrorism was eradicated in the military operation Zarb-e-Azb.
The House also paid glowing tributes to the later Senator Haji Muhammad Adeel of Awami National Party (ANP) who died last week. The family members of the late senator also witnessed the proceedings of the House. The lawmakers belonging to both opposition and treasury declared the late ANP stalwart a champion of democracy, saying he preferred to go to jail but never bowed down before the military dictators.
The thing which impressed the lawmakers about the late senator was his commitment with his party who remained associated with ANP till his last breath. The late senator who had the honour to work with the three generations of the Awami National Party, according to Ilyas Bilour and Shahi Syed of ANP, will always remain a guiding principle for the political workers of the party. In order to acknowledge the services of late Haji Adeel and Jehnagir Bader of PPP, who also died last week, Senator Rehman Malik of PPP demanded the Prime Minister to name some streets in Lahore and Peshawar after the late senators.
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