RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) on Thursday suspended two more building inspectors over corruption charges and for allowing unauthorised construction in the cantonment areas.

Six building inspectors, an engineer and a draftsman of the building branch were suspended on Wednesday on the orders of Cantonment Executive Officer Dr Saima Shah. She also sealed the building branch record room after inspecting violations of building bylaws pointed out in audit objections.

A senior RCB official told Dawn a charge sheet was being prepared against the officials of the building branch accused of corruption and that during the process two more building inspectors were found to have been involved in the case.

“Dr Shah immediately directed for the two officials to be suspended as they had hidden facts about the unauthorised construction of commercial buildings and declared them domestic units. She found that these units were commercial shops during a visit,” he said.

The official added that Majid Hussein and Ashfaq Ahmed were also involved in misreporting and concealing facts. He said the civic body’s management has decided to reopen the record room of the building branch.

He said a survey of the buildings will be conducted to see if they match with the documents in the record room. He added that the approved building plans of the commercial buildings will be checked by the inquiry officer who will also record the statements of the suspended officials.

There are 10 wards in the RCB area and 10 building inspectors are responsible for keeping a check on the construction of unauthorised buildings and for demolishing illegal construction. He said the inquiry officer will be finding out why the building inspector did not report the illegal construction to the civic body.

He said that during an initial inquiry, it was found most building inspector posts were occupied by non-technical staff.

“The RCB appointed new building inspectors who are clerks from the revenue department,” he added. When asked, RCB spokesperson Qaiser Mehmood confirmed that two more building inspectors had been suspended for allowing unauthorised construction in the cantonment areas.

He said departmental action will be taken against the 10 suspended officials of the building branch and an inquiry officer will be appointed to record the statements of suspended officials and will verify the facts.

“New standard operating procedures (SOPs) are being formulated in the cantonment board for the building and revenue branches to make it corruption free and to facilitate the public. The procedure for approving building plans will be made easier and a monitoring system will be introduced to check the work of the departments and end unauthorised construction,” he said.

He said the RCB was facing financial losses due to illegal construction as owners of commercial buildings get building plans for domestic units approved and then use it for commercial purposes.

“They are not charged the appropriate property tax or the building plan fee and parking issues are also created in the Cantt areas,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2017