ISLAMABAD: The session of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) on Tuesday witnessed a rumpus over the allotment of a disputed land for the establishment of the King Hammad University of Nursing and Allied Medical Sciences at Chatta Bakhtawar, Islamabad.

At one stage, the hall presented the look of a fish market when opposition leader Ali Awan said CADD minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry had misguided Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and got the university project inaugurated on a disputed land.

PML-N members headed by deputy mayor Chaudhry Riffat Javed, who is a close relative of the minister, asked Mr Awan not to go beyond the agenda items.

Members of both the ruling and the opposition parties exchanged harsh words and started chanting slogans against and in favour of the minister. When both the parties started chanting slogans against each other, the mayor left the hall, concluding the session. The debate on most of the agenda items had already been taken place.

Opposition member says CADD minister misguided PM to inaugurate the project

After the meeting, the opposition leader told Dawn that the minister had got the university project inaugurated on a disputed land as many locals, including some relatives of the minister, were still residing on the land.

He said the land owners had not been paid compensation though the CDA announced the award of the land in the 80s.

The Prime Minister Office last month directed the CDA to hold an inquiry against those who issued the allotment letter for the establishment of the university on the land without taking its possession.

The CDA on August 30 last year issued the allotment letter, earmarking 237 kanals at Chatta Bakhtawar for the construction of the university.

Sources said the then officials of the land directorate did not bother to get the land cleared from the local people.

They said on August 18 the then director regional planning had informed the land directorate that the land to be allotted for the university was in the adverse possession. However, the director land issued the allotment letter without heeding to the intimation.

Last month, a few days before the inauguration of the project by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and a dignitary from the Bahraini government, the civic agency earmarked another piece of land adjacent to the already allotted plot. However, the CDA is yet to clear even this area for the start of the project.

The King Hammad University, a gift from the Bahraini government, will be affiliated with Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland.

During the session of the MCI, the members held discussions on the issue of 485 kiosks in Islamabad. Later, the mayor announced that a committee would be constituted to look into the issue.

The committee will submit its report to the house for making a final decision.

The mayor informed the house that the federal government had approved a Rs2.6 billion budget for the MCI for the ongoing financial year. The session also deliberated on the issue of encroachments in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2017