ISLAMABAD: Sanitation workers associated with a private contractor whose contract was scrapped by city managers on Monday staged a protest outside the civic agency’s building for not releasing their salaries.

However, the CDA started paying the salaries to sanitation workers deputed in G-6 on Monday evening.

A few days ago, the CDA board had decided to cancel the contract of the private firm worth Rs650 million per year. According to the CDA, the contract was awarded in a fraudulent manner by Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) in September 2020 when Sheikh Anser Aziz was the mayor.A month after the award of the contract, the sanitation directorate was handed over to the CDA by the federal government. However, the civic agency did not pay any amount to the contractor saying the contract was awarded on the basis of alleged fake documentations.

Civic agency cancelled contract awarded by MCI last year but another firm is yet to be hired

Meanwhile, the contractor continued paying salaries to the sanitation staff through his own arrangements till December.Dozens of sanitation workers gathered outside the CDA building and chanted slogans, demanding release of their salaries of last month. During the protest, the main gate of the civic agency remained blocked. The protesters dispersed when they were assured that they would be paid the salaries by the evening.

Till Monday evening, the workers deputed in G-6 were given their dues and those working in other areas will be paid on Tuesday, said the CDA.

An officer of CDA said the civic agency had decided to send the case of the contract to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for a probe.

After deciding to cancel the contract, the CDA said it would be carrying cleanliness through its own staff and workers of the contractor till the new contract is awarded.

The officer said they had already called tenders for hiring a private firm for garbage collection from rural areas. The date of receiving applications has been extended now.

They said on March 8, the CDA will award the new contract in a transparent manner.

On the other hand, the contractor has been claiming that he had won the contract through a competitive process but without hearing him the CDA decided to cancel it.

He said through an official letter, he was asked to appear before a grievance committee on Feb 24 but before the meeting of the committee the CDA decided to cancel the contract.

The CDA board took the decision after receiving an inquiry report, which pointed out corrupt practices in the award of the contract. The report claimed that the contract was awarded to an ineligible company.

The contractor was hired for G-6, G-7, G-8, G-9, G-10, G-11, I-8, I-10 and for highways. Other parts of the city were handled by the civic authority’s own employees.

Currently, the CDA through its own staff and with the support of the private janitors is conducting cleanliness in these areas.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2021