Inspectors allegely allowed illegal plaza construction in PIA Housing Scheme
Punjab Services Tribunal ordered reinstatement of inspectors; LDA delayed restoration
LDA officials claim reinstatement cases are ‘under process’
LAHORE
Depression and trauma springing from the termination of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) officials in the high-rise building issue have led to the death of two building inspectors and brain hemorrhage of the director building LDA. Two building inspectors from the LDA, accused in the high-rise building case, have died after facing ‘hostile’ attitude of the LDA, said an LDA official. Farooq Ahmed, an LDA building inspector, who was an accused in the high-rise building case died on October 1. He was amongst the three building inspectors including Syed Pervaiz Khurshid, Amir Rashid, and Riaz Khokhar who were terminated from their services on 29 September, 2008 in light of an inquiry by the high-rise building commission constituted by the Supreme Court.
The inspectors were alleged to have allowed construction of the plazas in the PIA Housing Scheme without the due approval of building plans. An inquiry was initiated against the inspectors in 2008 and all of them were fired. The inspectors filed their reinstatement pleas in Punjab Services Tribunal (PST) in 2009. The PST ordered their reinstatement in July 2010 after finding them innocent but LDA lingered on their reinstatement and used delaying tactics in this regard. Khalid, a family member of Farooq Ahmed, told Pakistan Today that the victim had passed through a ‘severe psychological trauma’ after he was fired from the LDA. “Mental unrest ran high when Farooq could not be restored to his post despite the order of the Punjab Services Tribunal. He had been frequenting the LDA’s office over the last many months. As his case of reinstatement remained hanging in balance, his depression shot up,” Khalid added.
Owing to perpetual mental stress, Farooq had become a heart patient. On Friday, he suffered a cardiac arrest and was admitted in the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) where he died. The Punjab Anti-corruption Department had also been investigating the LDA’s auxiliary staff suspected to be involved in the construction of illegal plazas. Eleven officials have been arrested in this regard.
In February, the Punjab Anti-corruption Department’s ‘unnerved grilling’ in the high-rise plazas case caused sever psychological stress for LDA Patwari Ghulam Shabir Ahmed and consequently caused his death as well. Ghulam Shabir who had been appointed in LDA Kachi Abadi Branch had been facing ‘baffling’ interrogations in the case of illegal plazas constructed in Naseerabad Kachi Abadi said an LDA official. This was the first death since the illegal high-rise buildings case surfaced. A senior LDA official speaking of Ghulam Shabbir said that the ‘ill-fated’ was under severe mental stress as he got indications that he would be made a scapegoat of wrongdoing of top officials.
Kachi Abadi Branch Director Moazzam Rashid directed Ghulam Shabir to present himself regularly before the anti-corruption officials along with the documents concerned. After a few interrogatory sessions, his health started to deteriorate and he fell ‘dreadfully’ ill, the LDA official added. His colleagues rushed him to a hospital but he died on the way. LDA Director Building Syed Husnain Bakir had also suffered a brain hemorrhage due to ‘enervating’ interrogations in the high-rise building case, an LDA official said. When asked, the LDA officials said that the reinstatement cases of inspectors were under process and the decision would be made accordingly.
