Islamabad

A BPS-19 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Group, Naeem Rauf, has been appointed as director general administration at the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

Two other officers, who joined the civic body on deputation a few days back, have also been given assignments. Malik Kashif Awan, an officer of BPS-18, who came from Punjab, has been appointed as deputy director sanitation, while Abdul Rashid Kundi from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has been given the charge of deputy director coordination.

Malik Muhammad Saleem, who is performing duty at the Public Relations Department for many years, has been given the current charge of deputy director PR.

Khizar Hayat Satti has been transferred from sanitation directorate and posted as deputy director (bazaars) at the DMA.

At least, three officials, who have been serving in the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) — Mahboob Ahmad, Yasir Gill and Riaz Khan — have also been removed from their DMA posts. Simon Nathanial has been given the charge of assistant director (enforcement), DMA. Read more

RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Division Commissioner Imdadullah Bosal has directed the authorities concerned to accelerate the pace of work at the Mareer Chowk Tunnel Project, so that it could be completed within the stipulated time frame.

Imdadullah Bosal has issued directives to complete the construction work within the shortest possible time frame, so that the problems being faced by citizens could be minimised.

The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) commissioner said, “It was an exceptional project as compared to other development works initiated by the government of Punjab.”

The design of the project was approved by the Railway Department, keeping in view the passage of trains through out the day from the Mareer Chowk Railway Bridge.

According to reports, about 35 percent of the development work has been completed and construction of the road is being carried out without any delay, while the superstructure that is to be installed on the tunnels would be made of steel and work in this regard has also been started.

The RDA DG also said, “The contractor company is trying its best to complete the project within the given time frame, which is
May 15.” app Read more

LAHORE – Commissioner Lahore Division Jawad Rafiq Malik on Monday allotted alternate sites through open balloting to all the owners of the demolished petrol stations due to Metro Bus Service.

While presiding over a meeting regarding allotment of sites to the owners of demolished petrol stations due to of MBS that committee under his chair had engaged the entire stakeholder in every step of categorisation of petrol stations and alternate sites into A, B and C category.

DCO Noorul Ameen Mengal, ADC Nadir Chattha, delegation of Pakistan Petroleum Association and owners of demolished petrol stations also attended and witnessed the balloting.

Owners and delegations put their full confidence on the whole process and its transparency. Commissioner Lahore said that Government of the Punjab would uphold transparency and left no stone unturned to solve the issues of all affectees.

CDGL raids: On the direction of District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal, the price control magistrates on Wednesday conducted 328 inspections of different shops to check the prices of different edibles.

They made challans of 76 shopkeepers over price hike and hoarding and imposed Rs. 45900 fine and get registered 6 cases. Read more

English: One of the famous roads in Rawalpindi, the Murree Road (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rawalpindi

The Enforcement Cell of Rawal Town Tehsil Administration (RTTA) during its ongoing operation demolished more than 25 illegal structures, both residential and commercial.

The RTTA launched the operation on the directions of Administrator Saif Anwar Jappah.

According to the official spokesman, senior public relation officer Tahir Mahmood Khan, the operation strategy included action against building violators and against those who have no building plan but have made constructions both residential and commercial.

Prior to the operation, RTTA Administrator Saif Anwar Jappah issued notices to the violators directing them to approach the civic body for regularisation of their building plan and illegal construction in accordance with the Punjab government act.

A number of residential and commercial building owners following the directions approached the RTTA and got their building plans approved and regularised. During this process, the administrator directed the concerned authorities of enforcement cell not to charge penalties but claim building and regularisation fees from those who are approaching the civic body for regularisation of their building plans. The campaign helped RTTA to earn huge revenue amounting to approximately Rs15 million in a period of just two months.

Similarly, the operation was carried on against those violators who did not abide by the orders of the RTTA administrator. Over the last two months, enforcement cell sealed and demolished more than 25 residential and commercial buildings who had made illegal constructions in different parts of Rawalpindi city and its adjacent areas. Huge penalties have been imposed against the violators, the spokesman informed.

Similarly, RTTA has also issued 35 more notices to the illegal constructors of buildings residential and commercial. In all 15 illegally constructed buildings have been sealed till now, Tahir Mahmood said.

The report of operation against violators is submitted to the Punjab chief minister who directed the city district government for action against violators of the law, he said. Read more

Dense fog on Wednesday covered the twin cities causing the airport to shutdown while Islamabad-Lahore Motorway was under fog till early morning and was opened after remaining closed for five hours. According to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the Benazir Bhutto International Airport was closed for flights at 10pm on Tuesday night due to thick fog in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Eleven international flights were shifted to Lahore Airport while domestic flights arriving from different cities were cancelled. Other flights also faced delays and cancellations due to the same reason. The extreme fog blanketed the plains of Punjab as well.

The traffic plying towards Lahore was diverted to GT Road, as Islamabad Toll Plaza has to be closed as visibility neared zero in Kalar Kahar Salt Range owing to thick fog. Meantime, traffic going from Peshawar to Lahore was shifted to Highway from Burhan Interchange. The Meteorological Department forecast the hike in severity of fog during next three days of the week. Read more

English: Nawaz Sharif meets envoy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

* International firm vows to increase cooperation with Punjab govt in IT sector

* CM reviews progress on Ashiana housing project 

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that the development in the IT sector is the need of the hour and the Punjab government has launched revolutionary programmes for the promotion of information technology and the province would be made a “Silicon Valley”, a reference to the hi-tech industries hub in the US.

The chief minister said this while talking to the world-renowned IT company Teradata Corporation’s Chief Technical Officer Stephen Brobst on Saturday. Punjab Information Technology Board Chairman Dr Umar Saif and other IT experts were also present in the meeting. The chief minister said that the Punjab government is providing facilities and incentives to international IT companies for investment in the province, and due to this reason renowned international companies are making huge investment in Punjab. Citing the steps taken by the provincial government, he said that Punjab government has established IT labs in 4,300 high schools at a cost of Rs 5 billion, while modern education is being imparted to both girls and boys in Danish Schools through Smart Board.  Read more

LAHORE – While directing the concerned authorities to further accelerate the pace of work in Aashiyana housing schemes, Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday set up a committee headed by Justice (retd) Aamir Raza to monitor the process of auctioning of commercial plots in these schemes.

The CM said that the Aashiyana Housing Schemes had been launched for low-income families who will get better facilities than residential colonies of ministers and officers in that schemes. The neglected segments of the society also have full right on government resources, he said adding, besides Lahore, work had also been started on Aashiyana project in Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Chiniot, Kasur and Bahawalpur.

He was presiding over a held to review the progress on Aashiyana Housing Project. Senator Ishaq Dar, Vice Chairman Punjab Land Development Company Sheikh Allaud Din, MPA Mian Naseer, Chairman Planning & Development, Secretary Finance, Commissioner Lahore Division, Member Board of Revenue, District Coordination Officer Lahore, Chief Executive Officer PLDC and other concerned officers attended the meeting. Read more

Rawalpindi

Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif Friday performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the flyover and underpass to be constructed at Pirwadhai Morr, Peshawar Road.

Commissioner Imdadullah Bosal, DCO Saqib Zafar, MNA Malik Ibrar, MPA Chaudhry Ayaz and high officials of the National Logistic Cell (NLC) were present on the occasion.

The Punjab chief minister also inaugurated the project for widening of Chur Chowk. The NLC officials told the chief minister that work on three components, including three lanes from Saddar to Peshawar Road side and equal number of lanes from Peshawar Road to Saddar side, turning to Misrial Road from Peshawar side and Westridge through a U-turn and turning from Misrial Road has been completed. The work on this project, costing Rs431 million, was inaugurated by the chief minister on March 27 and completed on November 15.

Giving briefing on the new flyover and underpass project at Pirwadhai Morr, the officials stated that the total cost of the scheme is Rs1.447 billion. However, out of the total cost, the Government of Punjab has released Rs380 million. The flyover would be built from Peshawar Road to Saddar and the underpass from Saddar to IJ Principal Road. The total length of the flyover would be 380 metres, while of underpass would be 438 metres. Read more

RAWALPINDI, Nov 7: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Wednesday decided to hear the case of illegal merger of 2,880 kanals of private housing scheme with Bahria Town on a day-to-day basis.

The LHC bench comprising Justice Shahid Saeed on June 21, 2012 had declared the merger of Revenue Employees Cooperative Housing Society (RECHS) with Bahria Town as illegal and directed the “Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) to investigate the matter”.

The ACE inquiry, however, was stayed by the LHC division bench on July 11 after Bahria Town filed an appeal against the orders and requested the court to grant it time for compensating the affected persons of the housing society.

According to the court record, the merger was approved by the former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi despite opposition by the then Punjab minister for cooperative Malik Mohammad Anwar.

Malik Anwar had on December 2004 rejected the proposal of Malik Riaz, the owner of Bahria Town, for the said merger and observed that “such an action would set a wrong precedent”.

In the proposal Malik Riaz had offered the development of RECHS after merger of the society with Bahria Town but later sold 2,880 kanals of RECHS land to Defence Housing Authority (DHA).

The aggrieved RECHS members challenged the merger in the LHC.

In their petition they informed the court that instead of developing the plots Bahria Town sold the land to DHA and gave no compensation or alternative land to them.

They argued that the merger was illegal as the ad hoc administrator of RECHS, Col (retired) Abdullah Siddique, who signed the merger deed, was appointed for 90 days and was not the competent person to take the decision.

A number of aggrieved members of RECHS appeared before the LHC division bench comprising Justice Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Malik Shehzad Ahmed Khan on Wednesday and informed the court that the matter had been delayed for last several weeks as Bahria Town sought adjournment at every date of hearing.

Qaiser Qadeer Qureshi, legal adviser of Bahria Town, told the court that the management of Bahria Town has evolved a plan to compensate the aggrieved members of RECHS.

He said the management had also offered alternative plots at phase-IX of Bahria Town or in DHA phase-I to the members.
Read more

LAHORE

CHIEF Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that billions of rupees have been spent on the Lahore Ring Road project to rid the people of traffic problems and to provide them with relief; therefore, the upkeep and maintenance of this big public welfare project is our joint responsibility.

He said development work on the southern loop of the Lahore Ring Road would start soon whereas a separate police force was being formed to maintain the traffic flow on the road and it would begin its work from December 25. He was presiding over a meeting of the Lahore Ring Road Authority here on Friday. The meeting also accorded approval to the budget of the Lahore Ring Authority for the year 2012-13.

Shahbaz said work on the southern loop of Lahore Ring Road would commence after dividing it into various portions. He said the project would be exemplary in terms of its quality and transparency. Directing expeditious completion of the process of acquisition of land for construction of southern loop, the CM said that toll collection system at northern loop should be computerised whereas an effective business plan should be implemented in order to generate further resources for the project. He said the setting up economic development zone was significant for promotion of financial and business activities on the ring road.

Forming a committee, under the chairman Planning & Development and consisting of secretaries of different departments, representatives of Lahore Chamber and Commerce and members of Punjab Investment Board, the CM said the committee should present a master plan for setting up economic development zone along the ring Road. He said a theme park near Jallo Park along the ring road would also be constructed which would be completely outsourced, adding that the best companies should be consulted regarding setting up the theme park. Read more