RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has sought help from police for recovery of outstanding dues of Rs3,376,282 against 20 marlas of land allocated to a compressed natural gas (CNG) station along Airport Road Rawalpindi.

According to sources, the airport manager at Islamabad International Airport, in a letter to the regional police officer (RPO) Rawalpindi, stated that the land was given to the CNG station’s management for a period of two years (from Nov 6, 2008 to Nov 5, 2010).

A monthly space rent of Rs14,484 per month with 10 percent annual enhancement on cumulative basis was agreed upon. The authorities said after expiry of the first licence agreement, the renter failed to execute further licence agreement with PCAA even after lapse of more than 10 years despite consistently being pursued by PCAA authorities.

In addition to this, a PCAA official said that the CNG station’s management is also a defaulter of PCAA’s legitimate dues on monthly space charges. An amount of Rs3,376,282 has been accumulated as PCAA’s outstanding dues against them as on Nov 30, 2021, he said.

Finally, a notice was issued to the CNG station in July 2021 to pay off the outstanding dues and execute the licence agreement.

The party neither responded in writing nor visited the office of the authority, said the official.

According to the letter, PCAA’s land is still under illegal possession of the CNG station’s management as they continue to enjoy its commercial benefits.

In this regard, the station house officer (SHO) of Airport police station was asked to provide support for the recovery of the land in 2021 but no response was given.

After failing to get a response from the SHO, airport authorities requested RPO Rawalpindi recently to intervene in the matter and extend support for recovery of possession of the federal government’s land.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2022