The capital’s nerve centre of bureaucracy, the Federal Secretariat, is fast turning into a deserted place where wild grass is overgrowing and stinking water overflowing. Interestingly, this same headquarters of the federal government departments is expected to keep things in order and under discipline in the entire country. However, its own pathetic condition speaks volumes and puts a big question mark on the intention and willingness of the government departments and agencies responsible for doing so.
A visit to the various blocks of the federal secretariat, A, B, C and the rest on Monday exposed the poor maintenance work of the civic agency responsible for the beauty and cleanliness of the federal capital. It is such a huge complex but there are neither flowers nor fountains to be seen, no grassy beds nor proper sitting places under shady trees where the visitors could wait, rest and relax. Instead, there are broken benches, old rusty vehicles parked in the sideways of the secretariat’s various blocks giving an ugly look to the entire complex of big and small buildings.
The fact that the federal secretariat is adjacent to the state buildings the Aiwan-e-Sadr, Prime Minister’s House, Supreme Court of Pakistan and other state symbols, further highlights the level of negligence. While talking to Pakistan Observer a number of visitors who had arrived from various parts and cities of the country expressed their surprise at the poor condition of the Federal Secretariat which in their imagination was a place where the government officials in smart dress were performing their duties while the entrance as well as the inside of the buildings was neat and clean. However the reality is always opposite to your imagination, said Manzoor who had come from Sindh to get his arrears released.
Our Sindh secretariat is also not in an ideal condition but here the Federal Secretariat is, it seems, even worse than that, he said. Another visitor Sajid, who has been to several countries particularly China said if there was such a huge complex in China it would be covered with flowers and there would be fountains and orchards big and small to give the visitors a good feeling. A government employee and resident of Islamabad, Iftikhar, who visits the C-Block off and on, complained that sometimes the dirty water turns into a pond and makes it impossible for him to park his motorbike.
It seems the current chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has never thought about the Secretariat’s dilapidated condition, he said adding there were expectations from the current Chairman of CDA, Muhammad Ali Randhawa to uplift the federal capital as he had the experience of running the LDA but unfortunately he is no different from his predecessors. The signs of decadence in Islamabad’s various areas that once used to be iconic places and people and families visited them are becoming evident and if a quick action is not taken place the city of flowers and parks will become a deserted place where garbage is littered everywhere and no one is there to remove it. A CDA’s official was contacted to comment on the situation but he preferred not to reply.
A message was also dropped to the spokesperson’s cell but to no avail..
