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CDA chairman orders fresh inquiry into illegal trees cutting(Baluchistan Express, The Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Maroof Afzal, Tuesday ordered fresh inquiry into the illegal cutting of 34 Shisham trees from Diplomatic Enclave in 2010. According to an official notification, Shahid Mahmood, Director General (Water Management) CDA has been appointed as Chairman of the new Inquiry Committee while Saeed Ahmed, Director Accounts as Membercum Secretary to inquire into the cutting of 34 mature Shisham tress without fulfilling codal formalities. The new committee has been directed to complete the proceedings within three weeks. It may be pertinent to mention that the then Member Environment and Director General (Environment) inspected the site and prepared a damage report as it was an illegal action. The sources in CDA informed that as per procedure the Member Environment grants permission for cutting down trees after having proper assessment of the wood and noting down tangible reasons behind such action. From forester up to DG (Environment), five officers give the recommendation after visiting the site before issuing No Objection Certificate (NOC) mentioning the amount which is to be remitted with the cashier of Environment Wing, sources said. In this case, the sources said, no approval was sought from Member (Environment) or DG (Environment) that necessitated the probing of the issue and the then Deputy Director General (Planning) was appointed an Inquiry Officer by the then Chairman. Later on, the accused individual showed an approval of Deputy Director General (Environment), Iftikhar Awan, who was not authorized to accord approval and that too without recording any reason. When the cutting of trees was declared illegal, the sources claimed, the official responsible for this act, imposed nominal fine of Rs 280,000 to the accused just to give an impression that the defaulter was got punished and whole issue was shelved. The value of these 34 Sheesham trees are said to be over one million rupees. |