After six years of shutting down, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to restore a petrol pump to generate funds for the welfare of poor employees.
In a recent board meeting, the CDA has decided to restore the facility through open auction, as it would bring in revenue per market price. The board directed administration members to prepare a summary for the petrol pump’s restoration through an open auction after consulting the law wing to address legal complications, and present a report in the next meeting. The CDA’s staff welfare committee had purchased two sites for petrol pumps in sectors F-6/1 and G-6/4 in the 70’s. In 1973, the CDA had rented out land in Sector G-6/4 at Rs 1,000 per month to SM Ismail for a 30-year period while the other plot was disposed off at Rs 1,500 per month to Pakistan State Oil in 1975. The petrol pump at Embassy Road had been shut since 2006 after the tenant moved the court against an increase of rent. The inordinate delay in reopening the station incurred a huge loss to the staff welfare fund. This fund is generated from the monthly salaries of CDA staffers to support widows, orphans and marriage grants to deserving families. Due to the closure of the petrol pump, requests for assistance from deserving employees had been piling up with the staff welfare committee headed by the administration director general. After the CDA had vacated the site in December 2002, SM Ismail had moved the court and in 2006, on the Supreme Court had ruled for an open auction of the property.
