ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: Some precious items of the Parliament Lodges have been taken away by the inmates with them while vacating them after military takeover on October 12, 1999, a well-placed source told Dawn on Sunday.
Senior special judge of Capital Development Authority (CDA), Arshad Mehmood Chaudhry, has issued notices against another 41 former parliamentarians, who had been residing at the lodges, for non-payment of dues and for taking away items belonging to the luxury apartments.
The source said their cases would also be sent to the Election Commission so that they could not participate in the forthcoming general elections in case of non-payment of dues.
He said the cases of these 41 former parliamentarians were in addition to the 99 former MNAs and senators’ who had already been declared defaulters for non-payment of outstanding arrears of government hostels and Parliament Lodges.
Some former parliamentarians have reportedly taken items worth Rs0.076 million from their suites. These items include refrigerators, television sets, curtains, electrical appliances, furniture etc.
The total amount which has to be recovered from 41 former parliamentarians is stated to be Rs1.175 million.
A source told Dawn that the defaulters had to pay electricity charges amounting to Rs0.821 million, besides Rs0.177 million as rent of the lodges.
The 41 parliamentarians, who have to pay the outstanding amount or return the items belonging to the lodges, are Mian Karim Dad, Rs61,771; Atta Mohammad Qureshi, Rs84,404; Danial Aziz, Rs24,402; Dr Ismail Baledi, Rs28,774; Ijaz Mehmood Khan, Rs5,101; Ghulam Qasim Khan, Rs4,935; Haji Inayatullah, Rs34,878; Haji Kabir Khan, Rs7,832; Haji Mohammad Boota, Rs3,883; Islamuddin Sheikh, bed covers; Jehangir Badr, Rs16,000/a TV set; Jam Mohammad Yousaf, Rs33,185; Javed Ali Shah, Rs29,567; Maulana Deendar, Rs4,821; Anwarul Haq Ramay, Rs16,301; Hasil Khan Bazenjo, Rs31,105; Ashiq Dial, Rs91,010; Mohammad Hussain Daja, Rs48,821; Mohammad Nawaz Elahi, Rs15,316; Nawab Akbar Bugti, Rs8,344; Saadat Jatoi, Rs53,548; Tahir Sultan, Rs79,673; Sanaullah Zahri, Rs40,871; Sardar Asif Sanjarani, Rs89,957; Sardar Mohammad Yousaf, Rs2,293; Shabbir Chandio, Rs49,876; Shakeel Ahmed Baloch, Rs46,476; Syed Jamil Bukhari, Rs3,200; Syed Manzoor Hussain Shah, Rs5,480; Syed Jawad Hadi, Rs803; Noor Mohammad Shah, Rs5,474; Tariq Qaisar, Rs6,234; Waja Sanaullah Baloch, Rs9,384; Abdul Latif Afridi, Rs27,787; Amanullah Niazi, Rs4,672; Amanullah Sial, Rs112,316; Babu Ghulam Hussain, Rs28,700; Ch Birjis Tahir, Rs7,527; Ch Safdar Rehman, Rs6,932; Ch Sher Ali, Rs28,721; Ch Mohammad Ashraf, Rs6,267.
In the Parliament Lodges, facilities like hot and cold water, heating and cooling arrangement, bed sheets, blankets, and even tissue papers were provided to the inhabitants by the CDA.
The sources said former parliamentarians misused the lodges and destroyed furniture and other property. The cases of stealing of lodges’ property would shortly be sent to the CDA’s senior special magistrate for action, they said. Most of the occupants have evacuated the lodges without paying utility bills.
The sources said the CDA had allocated Rs5 million for renovation and repair work of the lodges. However, the authority has to spend an additional amount of Rs1 million to purchase different items in place of those taken away by the occupants.
They said only influential people could get accommodation in Parliament Lodges. On the other hand, the CDA claimed that lodges were allotted on merit.
“The list of people who want to have accommodation in Parliament Lodges has swelled over 600 aspirants,” a CDA official told Dawn.
The lodges were constructed with a view to providing accommodation to the heads of states on the occasion of the OIC Summit held in the country during the tenure of PML-N government, he said. However, very few heads of the states attended the summit and delegations of different countries stayed at the lodges, he added.
After the summit, the lodges were occupied by the parliamentarians, who were not entitled to do so, the CDA official claimed.