RAWALPINDI, Oct 21: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has to recover an outstanding amount of around Rs83 million from several departments having offices at the Islamabad International Airport, Dawn learnt on Sunday.

This amount has accumulated over the years on account of building rent, electricity and water bills and other allied charges.

The main defaulter is the national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), that has to pay Rs79.88 million to the CAA.

The CAA authorities are vehemently pursuing the case for the recovery of the outstanding dues, the sources said.

Pakistan Post is the second biggest defaulter with an outstanding amount of Rs0.73 million, followed by Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited that owes Rs0.62 million.

The remaining Rs1.77 million are outstanding against several other departments and commercial organizations. The sources said defaulters of small amounts were not all that problematic and usually cooperated with the authorities.

About the PTCL and Pakistan Post, the sources said, these organizations were not paying the dues on the pretext that they had been exempted from all these charges by the federal government, citing an order by former president Gen Ziaul Haq exempting them from rent and allied charges. However, the CAA was taking the plea that both of these departments were bound to pay all charges because these had no exemption orders for them from ministry of defence.

The sources further divulged that both these organizations were also not paying water and power charges, but the CAA through hectic efforts succeeded in recovering some amount as water and electricity bills.

About PIA, they said, the airline was not in a position to pay the outstanding amount because of its lean financial position.

The sources said the working of the airport was being badly affected due to shortage of finances and recovery of such a huge amount could be of great help.

The CAA, already under financial stress, received another blow in the form of cancellation of several flights from Islamabad after September 11 attacks on the US. It is stated that the CAA is weekly losing millions as landing charges and other taxes.

The CAA top bosses have reportedly expressed their concern over the rapid accumulation of the outstanding amounts and have directed the management to gear up their recovery drive besides preventing further accumulation of defaulted amounts.