Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on Tuesday expressed serious concern over awarding plots by Capital Development Authority (CDA) to officers on deputation and private institutions that is a violation of the civic body's policy as well as Master Plan of Islamabad. The panel was told that currently as many as 20 officers of BS-16 and above are working on deputation and 105 illegal housing societies are working in Islamabad.
The Committee met with Senator Muhammad Talha Mahmood in the chair and discussed various issues pertaining to CDA. Senator Kamil Ali Agha, a member of the committee said CDA had been violating Islamabad master plan on directives of present and past governments to oblige their rich and blue eyed. "If we start speaking the truth, many people within us (parliamentarians) will also be exposed," he said. Senator Kalsoom Perveen said CDA was awarding lands to private institutions including International Islamic University (IIU), Al-Shifa Hospital and others but it was not ready to introduce any scheme to give five maralas land to poor people. Deputy Director of Faisal Mosque Mohammad Tahir while briefing the committee said that most of the area of Faisal Mosque was occupied by IIU. He said, "We are facing enormous problems due to negligence of CDA as a huge chunk of the mosque's land is occupied by the IIU," he added.
About security and cleaning of the mosque, he said that problem of cleanliness of the mosque was mainly due to scarcity of funds. "There are 74 workers for the cleanliness of the mosque while tenders have been floated to purchase six machines worth Rs 4.7 million", he added.
The members of the committee expressed concern over the occupation of the mosque's land by Islamic University, and urged the committee chairman to put this issue on the agenda for finding a solution to it. Talha Mehmood said the occupation of the mosque's land by IIU was not acceptable and it would be vacated at all costs. He also summoned chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) in next meting to discuss the issue.
Senator Kalsoom Perveen raised the issue of dead fishes in Rawal Dam as a large number of dead fishes were spotted in the lake last week. She said the fishes had started dying due to contaminated water, which must be taken notice as it was quite dangerous. Kamal Ali Agha said that 50 peoples in Rawalpindi were suffering from hepatitis due to consuming contaminated water as twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad were supplied water from Rawal Dam. The CDA officials told the committee that Islamabad master plan was first prepared in 1960 but it was changed in 1992 and the capital divided into five zones. It was also told that the master plan was changed in 2010 and one zone was further changed into four sub-zones.