PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker government has warned people of “possible” fraud over investment in private housing projects launched in the province without obtaining no objection certificate (NOC) from authorities.

“Our probe has revealed that Citi Housing and Bahria Town in Peshawar don’t have NOC or other relevant legal documents to operate, but they’re still selling forms. People should invest their hard-earned money only in those housing schemes, which have NOC,” provincial information minister Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel told a presser here on Wednesday.

He said authorities had closed some offices of those housing schemes, while the closure of the rest would happen soon.

The minister said that the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team had been asked to launch an inquiry against housing societies operating without NOC.

Minister warns people against investing in those projects

“We will welcome investment but that shouldn’t happen at the cost of the people’s hard-earned money,” he said.

The minister asked people not to purchase membership forms of housing projects not approved by authorities.

He said that authorities were taking action against hoarders of essential goods, while Rs4 million dues had been recovered from electricity consumers.

Mr Kakakhel said that 8,000 wheat bags and 90,000 liters of edible oil were seized during a crackdown on hoarding.

Later, the minister’s office issued a statement quoting him as saying that the provincial government could make payments to its departments only after having funds.

He added that the province’s share in the National Finance Commission Award had reached 19 per cent, while its dues totalling Rs262 billion had yet to be cleared by the centre.

The minister said that the centre had paid Rs1.5 trillion hydel profit to the province since 2016.

He added that the payment of dues could help address the province’s financial issues.

Mr Kakakhel said that the government had formed a task force under the supervision of the home secretary to check dollar, gold and sugar smuggling and electricity theft.

He said that elections would be held after the issuance of its schedule by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The minister said that as a constitutional requirement, delimitation of constituencies was being held due to the recent population census.

He said the Federal Investigation Agency had carried out 440 raids, arrested 519 people, sealed 44 shops and registered 440 cases against foreign exchange operators over illegal currency trade since Dec 2021.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2023