- Agreement amount of Rs95 million ballooned to Rs260 million after project completion
ISLAMABAD: In another round of tussle between the Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) and Capital Development Authority (CDA), the former has written a letter calling for an emergency audit of CDA secretariat and physical verification of installed items worth over Rs260 million during years 2007-2012.
The original agreement amount of various items was Rs95 million rupees. However, later on, it was revised and increased to Rs260 million – an altogether increase of 75 per cent in the overall project.
Interestingly, the total number of fire extinguishers was meteorically increased from 650 to 1,786. However, only 1,304 fire extinguishers are present on ground while the prices of these items were increased manifold.
The teams headed by Emergency and Disaster Management Assistant Director Khalid Abbasi will undertake the audit of the measurement books, and project closure evidence and handing and taking over authentication. Moreover, servicing and maintenance and security and pending payments will also be reviewed.
Sources confided in Pakistan Today that attempts to brush the whole issue under the carpet has been made from various influential quarters, both from the inside and outside the civic agency.
Emergency and Disaster Management deputy director, while taking to Pakistan Today, said that despite the great odds, his department is willing to pursue the matter to its logical end. “Damage to the national exchequer won’t be tolerated at all. We’ll probe the matter in its entirety and will fix responsibility,” he added.
The audit will cover the renovation, installation of emergency equipment and other items during the tenure of four former chairmen of CDA, which include Kamran Lashari, Tariq Mahmood Khan, Imtiaz Inayat Elahi and Farkhand Iqbal.
Earlier, Pakistan Today had revealed that despite repeated reminders by Directorate of Municipal Administration, hundreds of fire extinguishers in CDA secretariat had expired last year. Ironically, the memo concerned said that E&DM had inspected “more than 2,200 occupancies”, yet it had failed to take notice of ill-preparedness and aloofness of many directorates of CDA, and had failed to seek compliance of its order in its own domain.
