LAHORE: Various officers, especially women working in the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), have criticised a senior official for his `unprofessional behaviour and problematic’ working style as he keeps them in office on the pretext of official work.

The other day, the parent of a female officer posted in the LDA Sports Club rushed to the LDA office along with a close relative because her daughter had not returned home till 10pm. She shouted at Additional Director General (Headquarters) Usama Majeed Cheema for keeping her daughter in office well behind office time.

“On Friday, the office (ADG office) called us for a meeting at 2:30pm. I reached the office around 3pm as I was busy in other official works at sports club. At this, he punished me by putting me on wait for around five hours,” the female officer working in LDA sports club alleged while talking to Dawn on Thursday.

On Wednesday, another meeting was scheduled at 2pm at his office and she, along with other officers, reached the office on time. But the ADG office put her and others on wait again.

“And again, my turn to meet him came at 10:10pm. Meanwhile, my mother (single parent) reached the office along with my uncle to check why I have been retained there till late,” female officer Zara Kashif said.

Like her, various other officers also reported identical complaints against the official. ADG Usama Majeed Cheema rejected all the allegations, saying that he was doing a lot of work to put the LDA on the right track to give a relief to the public and to end corruption.

“When I joined the LDA, I was assigned various tasks by the LDA DG to improve officials’ performance as per their job descriptions and end delays on the part of officers for disposing of applications seeking approval of maps etc,” Mr Cheema claimed.

He said that on Wednesday, the meeting was scheduled in the afternoon but it got delayed because of a couple of meetings with the DG and other officers.

“It was the mistake of my staff who didn’t convey to the officers. In the meantime, a woman (mother of the female officer) and a man entered my office and hurled abuses. But I preferred not to respond to them in the same way. They left while issuing threats to me,” he alleged, adding that another meeting was held late due to his staff’s mistake.

When asked why the meetings were being held long after office hours, he said it was not a routine as it happened sometime due to his official engagements.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2026