RAWALPINDI: Cantonment affairs are still being run by a mini-board formed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf despite elections to the cantonment boards on April 25.

On Friday, the three-member mini-board met under the chairmanship of Station Commander Brigadier Zahid Ahmed Rana and attended by RCB Cantonment Executive Officer Fahim Zafar Khan and nominated vice-president Abdul Rauf.

Strangely, the elected vice-president, Raja Jehandad Khan, and other nine elected members and two minority and labour seat members were not invited to the meeting.

The government spent billions of rupees on the election of the cantonment boards but the elected members have not been included in any decision-making process in the cantonment areas.

Though 10 members were elected on April 25, they took oath of their offices on July 7 and the elected vice-president was sworn in on July 15. The RCB civil and military bureaucracy made the annual budget without the approval of the elected members and now the meeting of the board was held after the gap of two months without them.

A senior official of the RCB told Dawn that the cantonment executive officer, Fahim Zafar Khan, was going to attend a refresher course for his promotion in Lahore and in his absence the charge would be delegated to additional CEO Rameez Ahmed. The Friday meeting was called to discuss this matter.

He said in the absence of the RCB cantonment executive officer, the mini-board meeting would not be held. Therefore, it was decided that approval for some repair work, building plans as well as the review on the progress on water supply projects would be approved before the cantonment executive officers leaves for Lahore.

When contacted, RCB Vice-President Raja Jehandad admitted that the elected members were not invited to the board meeting on Friday.

“The cantonment board is not yet completed as the station commander is yet to nominate the members from military and civil bureaucracy. The board comprises 24 members - 12 elected and 12 nominated by the station commander.”

He said the notification about the official members would be issued across the country simultaneously. He said in the absence of the official members, the board was not complete and under the rules an incomplete board cannot meet.

He said the annual budget of the civic body was approved before the members took oath and the civic body allocated funds for the development schemes in 10 wards and work on the projects would be started under the supervision of the elected members.

He expressed ignorance about the agenda of the board meeting and said he was not informed about the meeting as the nominated vice-president attended the meeting as a public representative.

Despite repeated attempts, RCB Cantonment Executive Officer Fahim Zafar Khan could not be contacted for comments.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2015

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