The Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR) has been reluctant to share the land record with the Local Government and Community Development (LG&CD).
The section officer (Estate) at the local government and community development had directed the MCR to present the record of the monthly rent collected from the shops owned by the public body, along with the details of the size of the shop, monthly rent, market value and expiry date of the lease agreement within a week, but despite the passage of almost one month, the public body did not share the required record. Sources said that the reassessment of the MCR assets and renewal of the lease have not been done for over five years incurring the loss of billions to the public body.
In 2012 the then TMO Saif Jhappa took initiative for the reassessment of the assets, an advertisement was also published in the newspaper for the biding of these shops. Later, the then Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also formed a committee- comprising of the elected members of Punjab assembly, District administration and MCR representatives to look into the matter-which recommended the reassessment of the shops in 2013. On its direction, the Municipal Corporation officials wrote a letter to the District Revenue Assessment Committee (DRAC) along with the details of the assets. However, despite the passage of more than five years since that letter was written, neither the Municipal Corporation nor the district administration took any interest in the matter.
Local officials availing shops on meager rents from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per month
Sources claimed that local political leaders and MCR officials, who have also availed shops on lease, are the barriers in the reassessment and auction of these shops.
It is pertinent to mention that the MCR has more than 2,000 shops mostly situated in the main commercial areas of the city while the average rent of these shops ranges from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per month only. Due to the negligence of the officials, the public body is facing the loss of billions every year.
Published in Daily Times, January 31st 2019.
