CADD minister tells CDA to stop allotment of land forthwith

Author: By Qazi Ziyad

ISLAMABAD: State Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary has prevented Deputy Director General (Land) CDA Abdul Salam Shah from further allotment of land.

State Minister received many complaints from the citizens of Islamabad regarding large scale corruption in the land department of Capital Development Authority (CDA), and the minister took serious note and asked the CDA officials to bring record of all the allotments, which took place within last four months.

Earlier, on the instructions of interior minister, Chairman CDA Maroof Azfal had constituted a so called five member committee for stopping the corruption in land department so that no allotment could be made without the approval of said committee but CDA’s DDG (Land) Salam Shah by keeping the committee aside continued the process of allotment in back dates, even he allotted some plot on Thursday by taking big amount of inducement.

After the orders of Interior Minister, the powers of Member Admin were given to Member Planning Wasim Ahmed but he refused to take the charge by saying that only three months are left in his retirement and he cannot take the responsibilities of wrongdoings of DDG Salam Shah and in the last leg of his service and cannot afford to appear before NAB and FIA on daily basis.

The citizens in their complaints said that after resuming the charge in CDA, DDG Shah had kept the lists of plots, which were reserved for affectees with him.

Now he allots these plots to investors by taking hefty bribe from them. Some days ago Federal Minister Interior Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan has also ordered NAB and FIA to look into the matter of land allotment in CDA.

On Thursday a delegation of dwellers of Islamabad met State Minister Tariq Fazal and told him about whole saga of corruption in the land department of CDA under the patronage of DDG Salam Shah on which he took immediate action.

It is pertinent to mention here that against the non-stop and uncontrolled corruption in the Land Department of CDA, the affectees also staged a protest demonstration and provided the proofs of Salam Shah’s dishonesty to Chairman CDA, but the head of CDA utterly failed to stop extremely influential DDG from crooked practices.