Chief Commissioner (CC) Office of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) has directed all the relevant departments for a comprehensive crackdown against illegal housing schemes to protect the public from real estate sector’s tricksters. CC office passed the directions on Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, Registrar Cooperatives, Director Municipal Administration and directorates concerned of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on receipt of numerous complaints, a senior official told APP on Thursday. She said all the departments concerned were told to step up efforts to bar illegal housing schemes’ offices from plot bookings, marketing and advertising through brochures, publication material as well as through billboards, hoardings and panaflexes. The official said the crackdown was meant to protect the earnest money of the general public. She said the CC office also asked the relevant departments to launch an awareness drive to prevent the general public from investing in any illegal housing scheme. Under the drive, the people would also be urged to consult CDA or Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to ascertain legality of a housing scheme before making investment, she added. She said the CC office also directed all the departments concerned to order all publishers and printing companies to verify the legal status of the housing schemes with RDA and CDA prior to taking any printing contract from them. The official said the advertisers and marketing agencies were being restrained from misleading the people with advertisements of illegal housing schemes. Marketing and advertisement of those housing projects that had not obtained no objection certificates (NOC) from CDA was illegal and unauthorized, she added. The official exhorted the citizens to visit the CDA website www.cda.gov.pk to ascertain updated status of the housing schemes in Islamabad.