Six billboards illegally installed in commissioner’s office

Rawalpindi:Six illegally installed billboards in Commissioner’s office were not only a life risk for pedestrians and motorists but also causing loss of millions of rupees to the revenue department.

Without any tender or contract, six huge sized billboards were installed in Commissioner’s office, Rawalpindi for over seven months. The six billboards had been installed here in Commissioner’s office in October 2022 but the rent of billboards was not reaching to the Punjab government and only selected officials were taking financial advantage. Rawalpindi Commissioner’s Office Assistant Caretaker and In-Charge Billboard Nawazish Saqlan told ‘The News’ that six billboards had been installed without any tender or contract. “We will publish tender of these billboards very soon,” he assured. He has admitted all fact and figures that these six huge sized billboards here in Commissioner’s office were installed from October 2022. He was reluctant to answer that where the rent of billboards was going because there was no government record of these billboards.

Parks and Horticultural Authority (PHA) is responsible for all billboards in city areas. The concerned department properly publishing tenders to installations of billboards in any place otherwise registering FIRs against violators, the officers said. The PHA officials were again and again writing letters to publish tender of the billboards installed here in Commissioner’s office but in vain, the officers said. The well-placed sources told ‘The News’ that Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) were already investigating on different financial issues here in Commissioner’s Office, Rawalpindi.

If six billboards here in Commissioner’s office, Rawalpindi installed legally like other billboards in city with proper tendering it will generate huge revenue every year. Meanwhile, the sharp increase in the number of illegally-installed billboards in commercial and residential areas of the city and cantonment has been posing a grave risk to the lives of public. The concerned authorities are not paying any attention to this serious issue. How we could raise this serious issue to higher authority when six illegal huge sized billboards were installed here in Commissioner’s office Rawalpindi for over seven months.