ISLAMABAD: A Senate subcommittee has raised serious concerns over the quality and pace of repair and maintenance work at the Parliament Lodges and directed that satisfaction certificates be obtained from senators residing in units where rehabilitation has been declared complete. The directive came amid growing dissatisfaction over the performance of the Capital Development Authority in maintaining the residential facility.

The issue was discussed during a meeting of the Subcommittee of the Senate House Committee held at Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Nasir Mahmood Butt. The meeting reviewed repair and rehabilitation works at the lodges along with outsourcing of janitorial and lift services expenditures incurred over the last two years and progress on the construction of 104 new lodges for senators.

The committee directed officials from the Ministry of Interior Ministry of Finance and the CDA to resolve all funding and administrative bottlenecks through close coordination. Members stressed that repeated complaints from residents pointed to systemic weaknesses that required immediate corrective action rather than procedural explanations.

Sharp differences emerged over the outsourcing of janitorial and lift services. Senator Dinesh Kumar termed the outsourcing model a failure stating that conditions at the lodges had deteriorated over the past six years. He warned that the absence of lift operators particularly at night posed safety risks and could leave residents stranded during breakdowns.

Although officials claimed that 29 lift operators were deployed in three shifts senators demanded detailed duty rosters attendance records and verification through CCTV footage. The committee ordered strict action against absent staff and sought full disclosure of day and night shift arrangements for the past year.

Senator Syed Waqar Mehdi expressed strong reservations over the standard of repair work alleging deliberate delays and collusion between contractors and officials. He highlighted the poor condition of top floor roofs and called for third party audits to ensure transparency and prevent misuse of public funds.

The committee was informed that expenditures of up to Rs5 million had been shown against some units despite residents disputing the scale of work. With 57 repair requests received in the current financial year and only 22 completed the committee demanded complete details of all works and warned that continued negligence at the Parliament Lodges would not be tolerated.