The Senate Special Committee tasked with reviewing and examining jurisdictional issues between the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) held its first meeting and adopted future work plan for the committee.
The committee will in subsequent meetings invite all relevant stakeholders and government departments. The committee has been constituted by chairman Senate pursuant to a discussion in the House.
The internal meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed and officials of the secretariat were present.
Senator Mushahid observed that the Senate was the House of Federation and Islamabad Capital Territory, which was the centre of this federation, should be governed in a manner not just as an example of good governance but also of excellent coordination between various departments.
He said that the committee would be pivotal in resolving the tug-of-war between the MCI and the CDA as this running conflict between the two institutions was undermining the good image of Islamabad and was adversely affecting lives of citizens in terms of environment, sanitation, and solution of problems.
Islamabad cannot afford this kind of conflict and this committee will endeavour to resolve this within the month of March, Senator Mushahid said.
A lawmaker, who requested not to be named, told Business Recorder that several lawmakers, both from the government and the opposition, are seriously concerned over the role of mayor Islamabad regarding different issues related to the civic management of Islamabad.
"There is a strong feeling that ever since the PTI government came into power, the mayor of Islamabad, who belongs to PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz), and is believed to be a close confidante of Nawaz Sharif, is proving problematic for the present government," the source said.
Recently, the MCI raised eyebrows by giving an unprecedented 10 times increase in water charges from Rs400 to almost Rs4,000 in the bills sent to the residents of I-8 sector and other areas of Islamabad.
Reportedly, some residents registered complaints against this move at the Pakistan Citizens' Portal but did not get any respite as the portal failed to resolve the matter.
In September last year, the MCI raised eyebrows by increasing the annual residential property tax fee in Islamabad by 200 percent.
It merits a mention here that the role of mayor Islamabad came under question when the federal capital was hit with worst water shortage in September 2018, hardly a few days after the PTI government came into power in August last year.
Several sectors of Islamabad including I-8, I-9 and adjoining areas are facing serious water shortages since September 2018, despite the fact that these areas never faced water shortages before.
The mayor heads the MCI, which supervises the working of water supply, environment, sanitation and a host of other directorates related to civic management in Islamabad.
In the backdrop of serious rift between the mayor and the federal government, the latter is reluctant to release funds to the MCI and the residents of Islamabad are bearing the brunt, due to lack of civic facilities, the source said.
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