ISLAMABAD, March 20: Senate chairman Muhammadmian Soomro has taken serious view of the CDA authorities attitude in giving possession to the members of the lower house of parliament in access of their allocated quota ignoring altogether the requirements of the Senate members.

Mr Soomro this observation during a briefing given to him in parliament lodges by the director-general of CDA, Mohiuddin Jamali, here on Thursday.

The deputy chairman of the Senate, Khalilur Rehman, the secretary, Shahid Iqbal, and senators were also present in the briefing.

The CDA official gave a complete layout of the Parliament Lodges Complex. He said as many as 220 units were completed by 1997 in the first phase and that the work on the construction of the remaining lodges was discontinued the same year. In the second phase, 142 lodges were constructed and possession of all the lodges was duly handed over by the CDA.

He informed the chairman that the CDA, in order to accommodate the maximum number of parliamentarians, also gave possession of lodges in the lower floor despite the fact that they were under completion and needed time to dry.

The chairman was informed that CDA has already handed over 67 suites to the senators in the Parliamentary Lodges against the demand of 80 and that nearly one dozen suites would be completed in June next and handed over to the Senate Secretariat.

He was informed that 40 single rooms in government hostel have been placed at the disposal of the Senate Secretariat for allotment to the Senators, as a temporary arrangement. The chairman also directed the Ministry of Interior and the CDA to take up the issue of making available accommodation for the Senators with the Ministry of Housing and Works and the DG PWD to ensure alternate accommodation arrangements for the Senators.

The Chairman was given assurance that forced drying of the Parliamentary Lodges allotted to Senators in the lower floor would be carried out on war-footing and the same would be completely ready within a week.

In reply to a query, the DG CDA admitted that a mosque for the lodges was included in the master plan and that as soon as the funds were made available a proper mosque would be constructed on the premises of the lodges.