The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has snubbed senior officials of the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) and Capital Development Authority (CDA) over the absence of CDA chairman Usman Akhter Bajwa from the meeting. The PAC meeting held here with opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah in the chair on Wednesday. The opposition leader said over the past 27 years the development cost of many sectors launched by the CDA has escalated by Rs 600 billion due to their non-completion.
CADD secretary Azher Ali Chaudhry informed the meeting that the CDA chairman has been summoned by the Supreme Court. Upon this, Shah said the CDA chairman should have informed the PAC prior to the meeting, adding it is unacceptable. The officials are undermining the Parliament which is the supreme among all other state institutions, he added. Shah and other members of the committee said the PAC has the powers to ask state institutions to bring those officials after arresting who are not taking meetings of the parliamentary body serious; however, it does not look appropriate; therefore, the parliamentary body is not taking such steps.
The PAC chairman said the CDA chairman was summoned by the parliamentary body first; therefore, he should have attended the meeting to brief about the agenda. Member Committee Sardar Ashiq Hussain Gopang said the development cost of sector I/11 has reached Rs 3 billion from Rs 490 million. He said the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) must conduct an special audit of the sector to fix responsibility over delaying development.
The panel also directed the secretary PAC to write a letter to the newly-elected chairman Senate to nominate members from the Senate, as the PAC is not a body of National Assembly only but it represents the entire Parliament. While briefing the participants, the audit officials said it was noted that the CDA officials were involved in spending money generated through selling residential and commercial plots on other works. They said the panel must give clear directions to the civic body for spending money for the purposes it was generated, as it has been observed that protracted delays in non-completion of works on a number of CDA sectors among other reasons include that the resources are spent on other works.
Member committee Mehmood Khan Achakzai remarked that incompetence and corruption are ruling the roost in CDA and as a result only junior staff of CDA has been suffering since long but senior officials don't take serious steps to resolve the persisting issues. He said land grabbers have become more powerful over the passage of time and in many cases even the government has been unable to do anything against them.
The audit officials said illegal occupants have grabbed land of multibillion rupees belong to the CDA which also caused long delays in the development of many sectors. They said the CDA will have to improve its enforcement and planning departments to overcome such issues.
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