MANDI BAHAUDDIN, June 16: Around Rs70 million collected from some 300 citizens for Satellite Town residential scheme seems to be at stake owing to lack of interest showing by the Housing and Town Planning Department. This was revealed by Union for Protection of Rights of Satellite Town Affectees (UPRSTA) secretary Haji Muhammad Kabeer while talking to Dawn.

The Housing and Town Planning Department, Jhelum, had launched a housing scheme on 55 acres in Mandi Bahauddin in the early 1990s and collected a huge amount from the allottees through the deputy commissioner office.

Allottees were also told that the colony would also have the facilities of a school, a mosque, a park, a graveyard and a commercial market. But neither the development work has so far been started nor basic facilities like electricity, sewerage and water supply provided.

To add to the miseries of allottees, Haji Kabeer said that Rs30,000 map fee for each plot was being demanded by the department concerned.

He said the Jhelum HTPD and the regional office, Rawalpindi, were not interested in the project. He urged Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi to order a probe into the matter and ensure the restoration of the scheme at the earliest.