CDA apologises to journalists, suspends officials
By: Ahmad Noorani
ISLAMABAD: Following The News story exposing the Cabinet Division for misleading the Parliament, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has suspended two of its officers for sending an incorrect report to the Cabinet Division, which was forwarded to the National Assembly Secretariat regarding allotment of residential plots to journalists.
The CDA issued a press release on Tuesday. The press release said that an inquiry has been ordered headed by the Member Estate, CDA, to fix responsibility for submitting an incorrect report in response to a reference received from the National Assembly Secretariat through the Cabinet Division seeking information regarding allotment of plots to journalists in Sector I-15.
Spokesman of the CDA said that in 2005, a case was received from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting for allotment of residential plots to journalists based in Islamabad. The case was processed and after balloting the allotment was reserved for these journalists. The CDA press release further said that according to preliminary investigation out of these journalists Moughees Ashraf Baig, Sajjad Khan Tareen, Ansar Ahmed Abbasi, Dilshad Azeem, Syed Zafar Hussain, Jawad Rana, M Ishfaq, Afzal Bajwa, Rauf Klasra, Syed Irfan Raza, Khalique Ahmed Kiyani and Sabir Shakir did not show their interest in allotment of plots to them.
The spokesman said that while responding to a reference received from the National Assembly Secretariat through the Cabinet Division, the concerned officers of the Estate Wing, CDA, consulted main file consisting the original list of balloting of plots to the nominees of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. The concerned officers without investigating the facts submitted the report, which was forwarded to the Cabinet Division inadvertently included all the journalists whose names were either in the balloting process or those who were initially allotted the plots.
The press release said that Capital Development Authority has tendered an apology to the journalists for this inadvertent mistake and has expressed its regrets for any inconvenience caused to them.
Meanwhile, two journalists, Rauf Klasra and Khaleeq Kiyani, have clarified a news item, about plots allotted to journalists in Islamabad Sector I-15, published in The News. They said they had never applied for any plot in I-15 nor got one as reported. “We are shocked to see our names in the list of plots submitted in the National Assembly during question hour.
When this list surfaced we had even protested and rejected it because this was a bid to malign journalists. We have also made telephone calls to Secretary Information Taimur Azmat and Secretary Cabinet Nargis Sethi and lodged our protest against the wrong inclusion of our names in the list. The list is fake and bogus and only aims to defame the journalists.”
Source: The News
Date:8/3/2011
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