Disputed Ring Road land acquisition
THE Rawalpindi Ring Road scandalous matter was referred to the NAB and the Anti-Corruption Department of Punjab for a thorough investigation on the directive of Premier Imran Khan after two separate fact-finding reports, one from Commissioner Rawalpindi and the other from DC and ADCR Rawalpindi but of no result yet.
The former Commissioner, in sheer violation of laws and rules, created rent seeking benefits for himself and a number of housing projects – Bahria Town, Islamabad Cooperative Housing Society ( ICHS), Nova City, Capital Smart City, New Airport City/Al Asif Housing, SAS Developers and Blue World.
It has been established that additions of Moorat-Attock Loop and Paswaal Zigzag to the project were made to purely benefit private interests with the backing of influential public office-holders, past and present, and influential bureaucrats.
Through lies, deceit and deception this private rent seeking was being portrayed as public necessity.
Bahria Town phase-9 without approval of Layout Plan (LoP) sold 50 thousand Kanals land, Capital Smart City having (LoP) of 7500 Kanals sold 60 thousand Kanals, Nova City without approval sold 30 thousand Kanals land and Islamabad Cooperative Housing Society sold 10 thousand Kanals without approval. Additional to all this Capital Smart City was given interchange on national exchequer.
The story of the Rawalpindi Ring Road scandal has some serious flaws in it. It displays a huge distortion of facts and also involves a political angle that casts light on the blame-game within the PTI.
The PTI government leaked selected excerpts of an inquiry report that was actually a minority report as two of the three-member inquiry committee didn’t sign it.
Two members submitted their reports which did not agree with what the head of the inquiry team had come up with.
The minority report is based on several conjectures and shifts the blame mainly on the former Commissioner Rawalpindi.
All the decisions regarding the realignment of the road were discussed in detail and taken by the relevant forums.
The report is backed by Advisor to the PM Barrister Shahzad Akbar.
Another influential former Special Assistant to the PM Zulfi Bukhari and a Federal Minister from Rawalpindi Division, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, are also beneficiaries and found guilty in the same ring road scandal.
The former Special Assistant Zulfi Bukhari is indirectly associated with Sangjani land, which belongs to his maternal relatives.
It is evident that former SAPM Zulfi Bukhari’s sister Sakina Bukhari was a direct beneficiary of the RRR scam with130 Kanal land.
As the Rawalpindi Ring Road (RRR) project controversy deepened, SAPM Zulfi Bukhari resigned and disappeared.
Now the district administration has started the process of fixing prices of land to be acquired for the disputed RRR Project from Banth to Thalian.
The price assessment committee is headed by Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ali and comprises the Additional Commissioner Revenue, Assistant Commissioners Saddar and Gujar Khan, the District Attorney, Director Land and Estate Management of Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), Executive Officer Building, District Accounts Officer, Deputy Director Local Fund Audit, Excise & Taxation Officer, Sub-Registrar Rural, Assistant Director Land Record and a Representative of the Commissioner. The committee had decided to visit the site to assess the prevailing prices.
The Price Assessment Committee, headed by the Deputy Commissioner, is to visit the project site in the coming week. To make the process transparent, the Administration had also decided to film the meetings.
In the past, many serious allegations were made about price assessments for the RRR project and the case is still pending in the Anti-Corruption Establishment.
Former Commissioner Rawalpindi Mohammad Mehmood and Rawalpindi Development Authority Land Collector, Waseem Tabish, are in jail in connection with the case.
The Punjab Planning and Development Board has allowed acquisition of land for the Rawalpindi Ring Road and the government has allocated Rs. 6.7 billion for it.
The road would be 38.3 km long and would start at Banth near Rawat and end at Thalian near the motorway.
New price assessment will be made after imposing Section 4 in the area to stop people from sale and purchase of land. As per the plan, there would be no special economic zones along the road.
The process to get back the money paid to people whose land has been acquired for the old alignment of the ring road is pending.
Rawalpindi Development Authority has started work to prepare PC-I for the construction of the ring road and would submit it to the Punjab government soon.
Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has already announced the launch of the project under the annual development programme.
The Provincial Government has also asked Commissioner Syed Gulzar Hussain Shah to complete the homework within a month so that Prime Minister Imran Khan could lay the foundation of the Ring Road and the Leh Expressway and Flood Channel on 25 December.
The RRR was the first mega project of the PTI government during the last three years which met it’s scandalous fate amid corruption and mismanagement before taking off.
—The writer, based in Islamabad, is book ambassador, columnist and author of several books.
