Daily Times

KARACHI: A rift between the Sindh Local Government Department (LGD) and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) over funds since 2013 has ruined horticulture work at Bagh Ibne Qasim, a former director general (DG) of the Parks and Horticulture Department has revealed.

The Bahria Town administration had been awarded a contract for maintenance work at the park by the Parks and Horticulture Department through a work order worth Rs 12.18 million – below the original cost of Rs 34.8 million – on March 22, 2016, but the town’s authorities did not proceed with it despite getting the order owing to the conflict between the LGD and the KMC, the former DG asserted.

Moreover, the LGD through an official letter on March 30, 2017, has handed over the park to Bahria Town for the next 10 years. However, Malik Riaz, the chairman of Bahria Town projects, has said that his entity would not start work on the park until the conflict between the LGD and the KMC is resolved.

During the last three years, the LGD has also been habitual of changing or transferring 33 directors general of the Parks and Horticulture Department on one pretext or another, besides making wrong cadre appointments, he said. The current DG, Afaq Mirza, is also a non-cadre and an OPS basic pay scale officer of Grade-19, who is not entitled for this job meant for BPS-20 officer, according to service rules of the KMC.

Abdullah Mushtaq Qaimkhani, a former DG, is said to be the main official who remained reluctant to work on the project, officials of the KMC said.

The Sindh High Court has ordered reversion of his grade to BPS-18, and he has been transferred to his parent department on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

It is interesting to mention that Bahria Town intentionally got this project for laying down their sewerage lines through the land of the park. This job has reportedly been done, Tanveer Ahmad, deputy director of the Parks and Horticulture Department said.

He claimed that Bahria Town management had not paid any development, road cutting and land charges to the KMC on this project.

A private contractor, Khalid Khan, had also been given a maintenance contract of the park for 2013-15 on papers by the KMC, but no work was carried out. The contractor has revealed that this job had been awarded to him on the recommendation of former member of the National Assembly Abdul Qadir Patel.

Finally, Shahabuddin, a private contractor, was given this maintenance job, but for unknown reasons he had not been paid for his short work. Now Bahria Town has been awarded the contract. Mushtaq, Tanveer Ahmad and Raheel Ahmad, the current executive engineers, and their supervisor Ramzan of the parks department are said to have been involved in malpractices in this matter, said Shahabuddin. While informing this, he also appealed to the LGD and the KMC to release his contract’s balance amount.

It is pertinent to mention here that during the period, development and modification of the parks and other green sites within the P&HD precinct had been prepared on papers, according to officials.