PESHAWAR: Peshawar Development Authority Director General Ammara Khan has been accused of playing a part in the alteration of the Rawalpindi Ring Road design.
Khan, a BPS-19 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service, was posted against the vacant post of Rawalpindi Development Authority chief in November 2019 and transferred and posted to her present seat in February.
Unverified reports further suggest Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has sought a report from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz to get a clear picture.
Niaz will brief the chief minister about Khan’s potential role in the alteration of the design purportedly to benefit a private real estate project.
Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 16 ordered an inquiry into the project and the case was referred by the Punjab government to the Anti-Corruption Department of Punjab and the National Accountability Bureau for thorough investigations.
NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal has directed the agency’s Rawalpindi office to probe all aspects of the project so that responsibility could be fixed against all those allegedly involved in corruption and corrupt practices and the culprits could be brought to justice as per law.
The inquiry revolves around alterations to the original route of the roadway. Originally designed from Rewat to Turnol via Murat on Grand Trunk Road, the route was later changed to conclude on the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway. Conceived in 2016, the changes to the route reportedly took place in 2018 and were re-endorsed in 2021.
