ISLAMABAD: Following allegations of corrupt practices, the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) has withdrawn its approval given for operating the G-6 Sunday bazaar thrice a week.

Recently, the DMA decided that besides Sundays the bazaar in G-6 should be opened on Tuesdays and Fridays. The DMA also allotted hundreds of new stalls amid allegations of corrupt practices.

A group of people recently staged a protest outside the DMA office accusing its officials of taking bribe to allot stalls. Surprisingly, the DMA allotted the stalls without holding any balloting.

Later, when the matter was brought to the notice of Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Irfan Memon, who is also the administrator of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), he ordered cancellation of the approval and stated that for the time being there was no need to extend the bazaar.

Therefore, sources said, the DMA issued the cancellation orders on Sept 9.

DC says he cancelled order as there was no need to run bazaar frequently

“It is being notified that the G-6/4 weekly bazaar will be operational only on Sunday. All permissions issued for Tuesday and Friday are hereby cancelled,” the notification read.

When contacted, the deputy commissioner said he had ordered cancellation of the approval as for the time being there was no need for extending the bazaar.

Asked if allegations of corruption were the reasons behind the cancellation, he said: “Nobody came forward to furnish an application against the DMA for asking for and getting bribe for allotting stalls. They were allegations only.”

He said the DMA had allotted most of the stalls to those who were already running their businesses in the Sunday bazaar.

“I guess the DMA also allotted some leftover stalls on first come first basis but now all approvals have been cancelled,” he said.

The deputy commissioner, however, said whenever the bazaar would be extended, open balloting would be held.

Meanwhile, DMA Director Shakeel Arshad denied reports of corruption, adding majority of the plots had already been allotted to existing stallholders and only surplus, hardly 10pc, were allotted on first come first basis. He said traders from the surrounding markets had also objected to the bazaar being open thrice a week.

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The DMA a few months ago, in a highly questionable move allotted 30 spaces for LEDs on Capital Developments Authority (CDA)’s land adjacent to Centaurus Mall and Safa Gold Mall. The private contractor was allotted the spaces free of cost and without any balloting for the so-called “running government and public messages.”

The contractor, sources said, was earning millions of rupees per month through commercial advertisements.

The sources said according to a decision of Supreme Court, the DMA cannot allow any advertising activities on state land.

However, when contacted, the DMA director said the contractor violated the agreement; therefore, the permission granted to him has been cancelled.

The sources said though the permission had been cancelled a few weeks ago, the LEDs were still operating with the contractor claiming that he had obtained a stay order from court against the cancellation orders of the DMA.

The director DMA said he had no idea if the LEDs were still operating. “I will look into the issue,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2022