MARDAN: City mayor Himayatullah Mayar has urged National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to take stern action against the owners of illegal housing societies.

He has also sought action against those people, who have converted designated parking lots into commercial areas in different parts of Mardan city.

In his written application to provincial director general of NAB, Mr Mayar said that like other parts of the country, most of housing societies in Mardan were also established illegally as the owners did not obtain ‘no objection certificate’ from the local authorities. He said that nearly all the housing societies had the mechanism to transfer plots in their record without proper registry.

“These acts also cause losses to government exchequer in tax evasion,” he said. He said that accurate revenue record and payment of property tax were essential for financial stability of government and provision of services to people.

Mr Mayar urged NAB to initiate investigation into the matter to ascertain the extent of tax evasion and bound all housing societies to properly register plots. He said that only those owners, who got approved maps from tehsil municipal administration, should be allowed to construct houses on their plots.

He said several owners of plazas had converted parking lots places into commercial areas. “Such actions not only cause inconvenience to people but also raise concerns about potential corruption in misuse of public places. Your good self knows better that parking places are essential for ensuring smooth flow of traffic as well as facilitation of people.

Local authorities including TMA also failed to regularise the same as per approved map and policy. This may cause collusion between the owners and local authorities, resulting in eroded public trust in our local institutions,’’ he said.

Mr Mayar also urged the relevant officials to initiate an immediate action against violators of rules to address the issues related to corruption in conversion of parking lots into shops and other business outlets.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2023