RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has opened an investigation into development plans that were initiated in the past year while former commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha was serving as the area administrator.
Following Mr. Chatha’s accusations of election tampering, a provincial government inquiry team went to the RMC offices to review the development scheme records.
According to a senior RMC official who spoke with Dawn, the commissioner was chosen to serve as the municipal body’s administrator following the local government’s 2022 term end. Since there was no elected mayor at the time, the commissioner had the authority to begin development projects.
According to him, the inquiry team reviewed the development schemes’ documentation and inquired about the authority that gave their approval as well as the adoption status of the standard operating procedure.
He claimed that a document regarding the development schemes had been created by the civic council, and it included letters of approval from the relevant authorities. The RMC started development projects with money it raised independently as a civic organization.
The official stated that the administrator’s consent was obtained before development on various projects, including a library and the general bus terminal in Pirwadhai, could begin. He said that the provincial administration has received information about funding and other expenditures.
Another RMC official informed Dawn that the inquiry was still ongoing and that the civic organization needed to submit information about the building plans that were approved during the last year as well as the revenue information that the Punjab government had requested.
He said that the RMC was required to disclose its whole revenue and expenses for the previous year to the government along with the anti-corruption authority.
According to him, the civic council was requested not to start any new development projects in the city without the new provincial government’s consent. He added that the RMC had prepared all the records and would send them to Lahore the next week, and that the newly formed government would be created in a week or two.
Chief Municipal Officer Amjad Hussain Chaudhry acknowledged that an investigation had been started when contacted, and the civic body gave the team that visited the RMC headquarters all the information they needed.
He argued that the administrator has the power to start work where it was necessary in response to resident demands in an absence of an appointed mayor and other representatives.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
