Daily Times

The FIA has registered a case against six senior officers of CDA over colluding with a housing society to encroach the land of a nullah.

The inquiry started in 2012 for the registration of the case and after 10 years, the FIA has completed the inquiry and found six officers guilty, following which the FIR was registered. The officers of CDA include former Member Planning and Design Abdul Aziz Qureshi, former DG Planning CDA Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu, former Director Societies Abdul Haq Brohi, former Deputy Director Zafar Iqbal, Zafar Housing Society, President Shahid Yaqub Chaudhry. They assisted in reducing the 70-foot wide nullah to 18 feet. The NOC was approved and canceled three times and each time the society did not have the required land.

According to the records of CDA, Pakistan Medical Housing Society had 178 kanals and 6 marlas of land, but the NOC was issued for 256 kanals. The land that the society showed ownership of was also only 100 kanals and 78 kanals was not in its possession.

In 2008, the NOC was canceled and then it was re-issued in 2012 and after that Director Housing Societies Zafar Iqbal Zafar canceled the NOC once again. In this way, the President of Society, Shahid Yakub Chaudhry, with the connivance of the CDA officers, got the hydrology report done. It is necessary for all the sectors of the CDA and all the housing societies associated with the CDA that they should not encroach on the land of natural drains, but the officials of this society sold valuable commercial and residential plots by occupying the 70 feet natural drain site for three sectors E-11, D-12 and E-12 of Islamabad and the drain was reduced to only 18 feet.

It should be noted that in 2022, torrential rains wreaked havoc in the same area and due to the narrowing of the drain, people’s valuable vehicles were washed away in the flood and many precious lives were also lost. It was also revealed in the investigation report of the Islamabad district administration at that time revealed that the construction of plazas and houses in the place of rain drains caused flooding. Such practices in CDA started from 2008 and continued till 2016. The FIA was investigating the case since 2012.