Islamabad: As the federal capital and CDA itself face multidimensional challenges in different areas, Captain (r) Muhammad Usman Younas, the new Chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) will not have an easy time ending the corruption in the CDA. He assumed his position a little over two weeks back.
In addition to addressing corruption in the directorates of Land, Building Control, Maintenance, Enforcement and other divisions of the authority, the new CDA boss will also be challenged to complete road development projects and residential developments on time.
This unending process of development started over 60 years ago in the federal capital, but it continues to this day.
There has been some activity in terms of building new main roads and extending and rehabilitating existing ones, but the development of new residential sectors remains a dream.
Whenever new residential areas were developed, the civic body failed to safeguard small investors’ investments and rights, as well as those who wanted to construct their own homes in the future, as CDA’s Land Directorate refused to provide transfer letters for five marlas and seven marla plots in sectors I-12, I-14, and others.
Many of these plots were purchased from entitled affectees by small investors for genuine claims, and many were transferred by the Land Directorate itself multiple times.
As a result of that declaration, the Land Directorate left small investors with no choice but to wait for the CDA board to come up with some concrete action to address their problems.
When the CDA board met in January 2021, the decision to allow the transfer of plots that had been transferred at least once lacked clarity. Moreover, the CDA officials lacked the energy and willingness to resolve the issue.
In their view, the bona fide purchasers cannot receive allotment letters after their transfer cases have been approved by CDA following the issuance of a No Demand Certificate (NDC).
After the NDC has been issued and the transfer case accepted, the purchaser is able to make full payment to the seller while believing that the Land Directorate has verified the plot file.
In their request to the incumbent CDA management, they want the CDA board to take a concrete and categorical decision re-allocating those allotted to entitled beneficiaries and transferring them between one and four times.
Since two to three years ago, the bona fide purchasers who spent their hard-earned money have been suffering for the same reason the genuine victims had been compensated.
CDA officials used to fear taking bold decisions because of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), but under the amended Accountability Law (The National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act), the NAB is no longer permitted to question decisions taken by boards of organizations.
Hence, there is no harm in addressing the grievances of bona fide purchasers categorically by the CDA board, otherwise, solutions to affectees’ issues will remain unattainable.
CDA’s previous management dealt with the issue of compensating the affected people of sector E-12, but unresolved grievances of small investors who have purchased small plots are still pending.
In the meantime, commuters have also requested that the new CDA chairman visit IJ Principal, the main highway used by commuters to reach their workplaces in the federal capital and return home.
Small investors who purchased small-size plots after receiving verification from the Land Directorate have suffered not from sin but because no actions have been taken against CDA officers and employees for fraud.
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