Daily Times

Due to criminal negligence of the municipal corporation officers, the public body faces loss of billions every year due to the irregularities in the land branch of the department.

The Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR) has 850 shops, three petrol pumps, a canteen, a bank, a cinema and a post office building which they have leased to different government departments and general public. MCR receives Rs 8.5 crore annually as rent against these properties, which is not enough.

The property of the department is mostly situated in the main commercial areas of the city where the average rent of private shops is more than Rs 80,000 while the average rent of municipal corporation’s shops in these areas ranges from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per month only.

According to the property rules of the corporation, the lease holders are not eligible to transfer or sell the shops to anyone else, but allegedly with the support of department’s officials and traders unions, about 80 percent shops are sold out for millions of rupees to others, sources said.

An official of MCR, wishing anonymity said the lease agreement of almost all properties expired many years ago, but due to the negligence of the officers, the property is not leased again.

The last assessment of the property was made in 2003 but even after that, the rent and lease of the shops was not revised.

Recently, Rose Cinema was sealed by MCR for not having any agreement with public body, but it is revealed that the owner of the cinema was running it without any agreement since decades. Similarly, a lease agreement of the petrol pump on Murree Road also expired five years ago and has not been renewed yet.

Published in Daily Times, September 28^th 2018.