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MULTAN, Jan 29: The provincial government has relaxed a number of conditions for the dwellers in the kutcha abadis in the district for their ownership rights under the supervision of the Multan Development Authority (MDA).
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, MDA Director General Col Syed Asif Jamal said some of the abadis were recognized while a few were controversial. Of the 27 recognized, he said, the MDA had taken over 16.
He maintained there were around 8,000 mud and brick houses in the MDA-controlled abadis and more than 1,000 people were residing there without facilities.
Mr Jamal said the government had planned to grant ownership rights to the residents of the abadis against Rs172 per marla and Rs1,000 as development charges, adding the government had reduced charges to Rs500 to be paid in instalments till August. At least 10 per cent of the cost would be written off to those who would pay the amount lumpsum.
He hoped the relaxation would help expedite the process of transfer of ownership, saying the development of these abadis would come next.
He claimed Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) could work effectively under the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA). At present, the authorities were focusing on the construction of southern bypass with an expenditure of Rs66 million.
He said the authorities had sought provincial government’s approval for various schemes, including conversion of a number of busy roads into double tracks.
The abolition of development authorities could not be termed a right decision, he said.
He urged the authorities concerned to restore the land acquisition act of 1894 as the 1973 act had created problems for the public sector development organizations in the wake of purchase of lands for projects on commercial rates.
WORKSHOP: A one-day consultative workshop to suggest amendments to laws regulating the working of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will be held in Multan on Feb 6.
The workshop will be a part of the campaign of the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) to hold consultative exercise in the country to formulate amendments to the societies registration act 1860, the trust act 1882, the cooperative societies act 1925, the voluntary social welfare agencies (control and registration) ordinance 1961 and companies ordinance 1984. The PCP is commissioned by the government of Pakistan to undertake the study.
The Trust for Voluntary Organization (TVO) will assist the PCP to hold the workshop in Multan likely to be participated by the representatives of NGOs, unregistered charitable organizations, local philanthropists, businessmen, journalists and others.
TVO official Azizur Rahman said the PCP was likely to submit its findings to the government by March 21, 2002, with an aim to formulating an enabling, regulatory and fiscal framework for the operation of civil society organizations working in the public interest.
