The members of National Assembly from both sides of the aisle on Friday asked the government to conduct probe into the allotment of plots by Capital Development Authority (CDA) for agro-farms which are being used for other purposes.
On the insistence of the members, the Minister in-charge, Cabinet Division, Khursheed Shah assured the House that a thorough inquiry would be conducted into the matter, as the plots were being used against their primary purpose for which they had been allotted.
Earlier, the Minister while responding to a question said that the plots had been allotted by the previous governments and any action against the allotment by the present government would be dubbed as political victimisation. He said that he himself had serious doubts about transparency of the process adopted to lease out the agro-farming plots through open auction.
Khursheed said that at least 14 plots were allotted for agro-farms and he was not satisfied with the process of allotment, but added that any cancellation of plots at this stage would be tantamount to political victimisation, or might invite litigation from the allottees.
PPP legislator Imtiaz Safdar Warraich pointed out that since the minister himself was not satisfied with the matter a thorough inquiry needed to be conducted. The idea was endorsed by majority of the members from both sides of the House. Ultimately, the Minister said that after the consensus of the House, he would write to the Prime Minister, recommending him for thorough inquiry into the matter.
Abdul Ghafoor of PML-N reminded that the case of 499 plots in Islamabad, which were given to bigwigs for agro-farms, were being used for different purposes on which the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry also had taken suo motu action and the case is still pending in the Supreme Court. He also demanded of the government that the process to lease out around 500 agro farming plots be re-examined.
Khursheed said if the House unanimously wanted an inquiry into the case, he would request the Prime Minister in this regard. Replying to another supplementary question, he said that the government would take a decision on the future of NCHD after consulting the elected representatives on the performance of the Commission. To an another query, he dispelled the impression that water supplied from Simla Dam was contaminated, saying that it was being supplied after complete purification process.