RDA plans to recover its real estate from RMC

RAWALPINDI:

The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has decided to recover its billions of rupees worth of land from Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation (RMC).

A meeting of the RDA board noted that for the past 25 years, RMC has been collecting rent from 562 shops and open sheds present on 14 kanals of land which actually belong to the authority.

According to the minutes of the meeting, it has been decided that RDA Chairman Tariq Mahmood Murtaza and Director-General Ammara Khan will take up the matter with the RMC administrator and Rawalpindi commissioner for the possession of the above-mentioned shops and sheds.

The authority has also decided that if the matter will not be resolved, it will be referred to Chief Minister Usman Buzdar through parliamentarians.

RDA officials told the meeting that there were 124 shops in the National Market, 280 in Ghazni Market, 150 in Sherpao Colony and eight shops were in Mohanpura, while in Ganj Mandi where sheds have also been constructed. Officials said that RMC has been collecting the rent of all these shops for the past 25 years.

RDA to make rainwater tanks must in buildings

The RDA meeting was told that the authority had demolished some shops in 2010 for creating parking space, however, some of the allottees approached the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench. The court verdict came in favour of the RDA. Now the authority aims to demolish these shops and construct new buildings to make money.

RDA Chairman Murtaza said the development agency was focusing on increasing revenue so that new development projects could be launched in the city.

Work on pending projects will also begin as RDA’s revenue generation will be increased, he said.

Where is the red line

RDA was considering hiring an audit firm to conduct an inquiry whether the boundary wall of PML-N Senator Chaudhry Tanveer Khan’s property, which it had demolished, was on state or private land.

The authority had run bulldozer on Tanveer’s Wilayat Complex on the night of Sunday, January 5. However, following strong backlash from the opposition and public circles, it has now decided to conduct a third party survey.

The decision to carry out the audit inspection was proposed by Punjab parliamentary secretary revenue and RDA member governing body RDA Chaudhry Muhammad Adnan in the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2020.