ISLAMABAD: Taking exception over the inordinate delay in maintenance work of the Parliament Lodges, Senate House Committee on Thursday proposed Capital Development Authority (CDA) to outsource the work to private companies if it was not capable of carrying out the necessary repair work.
The committee meeting, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandiviwalla, expressed dismay over the performance of the civic body in the past and complained about missing facilities of basic need.
The chairman lambasted the CDA over its pathetic state of affairs regarding the upgradation of Parliament Lodges and ordered the CDA chairman for a thorough inquiry into the negligence.
CDA Chairman Afzal Latif informed the body that there was a delay in the release of funds and even some grants from previous quarters were still pending.
To this, Additional Finance Secretary Arshad Mehmood said the federal government released the maintenance grant for eight buildings including parliament lodges on a quarterly basis.
He said 4th quarter grants of years 2016-17 and 2017-18 were withheld due to the non-utilisation of already released funds.
Saleem Mandviwalla asked the finance division to release the amount at earliest so that the renovation work could be completed timely.
Arshad Mehmood assured the committee that all due amount would be released within a week and committed that the CDA would not face a paucity of funds regarding renovation work of parliament lodges.
The chairman committee said he would personally monitor the CDA and Finance Division functioning regarding funds release to ensure timely maintenance of Parliament Lodges.
The CDA chairman requested the committee to conduct expenditure review for ascertaining the situation on the ground. He said the CDA would extend an apology if it was proven guilty.
Senator Samina Saeed alleged that the CDA was only accommodating the parliamentarians on basis of favouritism and sometimes did not bother to attend their phone calls.
Saleem Mandviwalla said CDA should replace its staff and deploy at least some professionally sound staffers at parliament lodges.
To this, CDA chairman said the staffers had been working in parliament lodges for the last 30 years and they were well entrenched for which they were facing difficulty in relocating them.
Giving an example, the chairman said they had tried to replace around 15 staffers in last month and regretted that they all brought stay from the courts.
Saleem Mandviwalla suggested that the CDA should hire private staff for parliament lodges if it felt insufficient to cope with the situation.
Senator Sardar Shafique Tareen pointing out the obsolete wall clock in committee room said that it was not about to release of funds rather showed reluctance on the part of CDA.
Meanwhile, the Civil Defense Director General (DG) also made some astonishing revelation about fire extinguishing equipment and apprised the committees that most of the equipment installed at parliament lodges were outdated.
The defunct fire extinguishing tools included non-operational fire detection and alarm system, non-functional hydrant system, Hose reels without a water source and insufficient fire extinguisher.
The DG informed the committee that they had imparted civil defence training to 70,000 people.
The CDA also assured the committee about an amicable settlement with the hired contractor regarding construction of new lodges.
