Recently, the NAB authorities handed over cheques worth Rs 600 million to 450 affectees of the Arain City scandal, a house society scam that fraudulently stole the hard earned money of hundreds of middle class families in the past. According to the details, the NAB recovered millions of rupees funds through a plea bargain with the management of Arain City, Fateh Jang, Rawalpindi.
Historically, the property development and housing societies construction have been the most ungoverned, least regulated and heavily untaxed businesses, while those professions are the most corrupt and poisonous enterprises in Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The housing societies have shaped into an uncontrollable monster which is not only rapidly swallowing precious cultivated land but fearlessly eating up valuable assets of the public through illegal, fraudulent, and non-transparent schemes, in Twin cities and other parts of the country.
The malevolent and corruptions stories of property Tycoons are regularly being covered by the media but cruelties and handedness those infamous housing giants regularly inflict on common cities rarely comes into limelight at the national level. Just as a single example, recently Bahria Town Rawalpindi slapped several hundreds of thousands rupees on account of development charges on allottees of Extension Phase-8 while the same amount is being charged from Bahria Town Phase-8 Orchard, a delayed project that was promised by the society to hand over customers by 2015/2016 but still customers are waiting for possession. Similarly, the allottees of the famous Saqlain Mushtaq Heights, a project launched by famous Pakistani cricketer Saqlain Mustaq in 2014 are still awaiting possession of their flats but the former cricketer and his partner both disappeared from the scene. In fact, there are countless stories of misdeclaration, fraud and non fulfillment of undertaking by the property Tycoons, and builders but no government institutions including NAB, FIA or Police and judiciary as well, is able to kneel those culprits who have stolen away precious money of the poor masses.
Unfortunately, the NAB failed in prosecuting the criminals and recovered money taken away through plea bargain with the crooks and now NAB authorities are beating drums of their half-success or partial failure. Enough is Enough, the government must take strict notice of this fraudulent business and layout a time bound transparent SOPs for completion/ handing over the projects, plots or flats etc. along with bringing property sector under strict monitory and taxation network, so the fraudsters and notorious crooks neither sale barren land to poor masses in the garb of housing societies nor they filled bags with money through fake and flimsy residential projects in the future.
