CADD’s fate hangs in balance

Islamabad : Though a weekly off, the Capital Administration and Development Division has declared today (Saturday) a working day for all educational, health and social welfare organisations it oversees in the Islamabad Capital Territory.

No reason has been cited in the notification issued by the CADD for the cancellation of the weekly off.

However, an official in the know told ‘The News’ that newly-posted CADD secretary Aurangzeb Haq was to give a briefing on the division to Prime Minister Imran Khan today and therefore, he had asked the staff members of all organisations working under the division to remain on duty in the day.

He said the secretary would defend the division’s utility in the post-devolution regime amid the possibility of its disbanding for being an unnecessary burden on the exchequer.

The official said the

prime minister would decide about the CADD’s fate after the briefing.

Information minister Fawad Chaudhry recently announced that the idea of splitting up the CADD was under consideration at various levels and would be adopted soon and thus, causing the organisations governed by it to go to the relevant federal ministries for administrative control.

The CADD was created in 2011 after the devolution of over 20 ministries to all four federating units through

18th Constitutional Amendment with an aim to oversee the Islamabad Capital Territory’s educational, health, population and social welfare organisations.

Its disbanding was suggested by various government forums many times in the past over inefficiency but the then premiers gave the idea the thumbs down.