Graffiti a curse for capital’s beauty
By Saad Saud

ISLAMABAD—Graffiti is not a new phenomenon on the capital walls but none of the related directorates of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) are ready to take responsibility for their removal.
Graffiti has become common feature of our society that casts negative impact not only on the beauty of the city but also on visitors particularly foreigners. Graffiti comes in all shapes and can be seen on walls, buildings, signboards, bus stops, recreational places like Rawal Lake, Daman-e-Koh, Fatima Jinnah Park, Shakarparian and even public transport which not only destroys beauty of these places but also gives wrong impression about the nation.
A resident of G-9 sector Zeeshan Rais said that parties banners, flags, posters of various contesting candidates were still scrawling in and around the capital although one month has passed since general elections. He deplored city managers for not paying heed to this important matter.
Election Commission should make a rule under which all candidates should deposit separate amount in order to remove their posters, banners and flags after completion of elections process, he asserted. Qurat-ul-Ain,a student said that graffiti emerges soon as a new road, bridge or flyover is built. Special campaign must be launched to create awareness among the masses regarding ill-impacts of graffiti.
Another resident Kalimullah said, “ graffiti is an eyesore that decreases property value, adding, proper steps must be taken to stop this practice. When an official of Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) was contacted, he said that removing of various banners, wall chalking, posters and flags was the responsibility of CDA Sanitation Directorate.
However Director Sanitation CDA Mustafain Kazmi informed that Road and Marketing Directorate of the Authority deals with graffiti-related issues. When Director of Road and Marketing Najeeb ur-Rehman was approached,he said that a drive was started soon after the elections to remove graffiti but his department was only authorized to erase and remove graffiti were pasted on sign or direction boards.
He said that a plan is also afoot to hire a qualified firm to remove such materials and posters. However, he said that it was the duty of DMA to remove wall chalking, banners, flags and posters etc. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is mulling to provide loan facility to its employees for building their homes in the federal capital, an official of the Authority said Tuesday. According to official statistics, there is a shortage of more or less 45,000 housing units in the Capital adding that the Authority does not have enough resources to fill this gap.
The Authority had also planned to engage private sector for construction of condominium-styled housing in the Capital, but the decision is yet to be substantiated. He said about 14,000 people are employed in the Authority but very few have residences of their own. Some of them have been allotted plot but due to their low monthly income they cannot build their houses.
The proposal was also put forward in CDA Board meeting on Tuesday but was deferred due to some reasons; however, the official said the next meeting would be convened shortly. The official said the loan facility would be provided to every employee of the Authority and the main focus would be low-salaried staff. "It would be the first ever facility in the Authority and would be a great achievement, if approved," the official remarked.
The Board approved the change in the planning parameters of two plots in Blue Area allotted to the Civil Aviation Authority. CAA plans to build it headquarters on the site. The CDA Board gave go-ahead to the project of the improvement of AirCondition facilities at Parliament House by providing additional installation of package units, CCTV system, fire alarm system, and maintenance of lifts.