Brief History:
The society was developed long time ago. Initial management (consisting of officers of Ministry of Health) did fantastic work with full dedication. They were able to develop the society (particularly phase 1) with minimum resources and best of quality. The health ministry was dissolved as a result of 18th amendment, so those officers were shifted to the provinces. The E18 Gulshan Sehat is also known as Health Employees Cooperative Housing Society (HECHS). This society doesn’t come under CDA as 17 is the last series of CDA.
In 2012, the society management came in the hands of incompetent and dishonest persons, whose only expertise was sale purchase of plots. And ever since, it’s just going down!
CDA has now distributed a warning to all general population under the guidelines of Director Housing Societies Planning Wing Mr. Ayub Tariq. He says the limits of CDA capital points are up to 17 Series, and all social orders lying under is are not a part of CDA. It is recent news for the general population that, according to CDA of Islamabad D-18, and F-18 are not a part of it.
At the same time, these divisions are broadly known and utilized for notable societies like Engineers Cooperative Housing Society, Gulshan-e-Sehat, and AWT lodging Society. There are a few societies that utilize the name of Islamabad Sectors, for example, AWT, ECHS, and WAPDA Town Use the Sector D-18, Gulshan-e-Sehat Uses Sector E-18 and Faisal Town Uses sector F-18, Ministry of Commerce Society Uses the Sector Name E-19 and many. CDA has additionally advised the housing societies not to utilize the names of CDA areas to advance themselves and deceive the overall population.
Current Issues according to resident (as of 2024):
- Electricity condition: It has some issues of voltage fluctuations. In some streets, electricity wires are lying open with exposed joints.
- Illegal speed breakers: The speed breakers here are awful that are illegal according to international standards resulting in damage to car suspension.
- Road conditions: The main roads are satisfactory but the streets are in awful condition.
- Street lights: The management has just added some street lights on main road but the streets are still in darkness!
- No hospital: How ironic it sounds that a society named “Gulshan-e-Sehat” does NOT have a single hospital or medical dispensary.
- Illegal Factories: Many illegal factories have been setup in the vicinity of Gulshan-e-Sehat. Some of them burn tires and tar coal, thus posing serious threats to the environment and health hazards for members. Society management has done nothing in this regard.
- Wild grass: There’s wild grass everywhere which is a good breeding ground for snakes and mongoose posing a thread to residents of the society.
- No good park: The society has some parks but they are not maintained and looks like an open field.
- Society office: The society office is located in Blue area, almost 30 kms away from society. How can someone manage society from that far off.
- No banks or ATMs: The society does not have any bank or ATMs.
- Commercial area: The shops and businesses here are very limited and the residents have to go out of society into nearby areas for grocery shopping. Also most of the businesses here starts closing as soon as the sun sets.
- No good schools: Society only have 1 school that is Qurtaba. That too is build on a residential house.
- Boundary wall: The management took Rs 25,000 from each member for construction of boundary wall but that is still not completed. Its broken from multiple points and does not have any fencing.
- Bad security: The society is adjacent to a village called “Margalla town Hakla” And “Dora” and villagers come and go here as the gates are open and the boundary wall is broken resulting in serious security threat.
- Overgrown grass: The grass on empty plots and empty areas is over grown and the management is not interested in cutting it.
- No proper mosque: The management took “masjid fund” from its members but the mosque is still not built and the temporary one is usually overcrowded.
- Entrance from railway crossing: The society entrance has a railway crossing in it resulting in issues and delays.
- No proper optic fiber: The society does not have any internet provider. There’s a local optic internet provider (Waseem +92 312 6171007), but their service goes down sometime as their optical cables are not buried underground and are laying open on roads at some points. Also their service is expensive as compared to the market rate.
- No public transport within society: You can get public transport on main Tarnol road but within society, there’s no transport.
- Wall chalking: There’s so much advertisement and wall chalking in the society which ruins the beauty of society.
- Open rain water drain: The main rain water drain (nullah) is open and causes smell in surrounding areas during rain season.
- Beautification of society: The society is naturally located in a beautiful location but the management has done almost nothing to make it better.
- Non-resident management: The management is not the resident of society. How can someone know the issue of society without living here.
A member of a Managing Committee shall cease hold office if he: – After provision of necessary facilities in the colony of the society, does not reside in it. (THE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES RULES, 1927) - Hiring relatives and close friends; The management allegedly gives contracts and hiring based on nepotism to close relatives or friends instead of based on merit.
- Bad marketing: The society does not have its own identity due to bad marketing by its management. No one outside the society or even in surrounding areas knows about the society. Faisal Town is right in front Gulshan e Shat as has very good marketing, management and infrastructure.
- No central management: There’s no central phone number that provides all the services. For each thing, residents have to figure out the responsible person and call him. All other good societies have a central telephone number that’s there for all kind of complaints and services and stays active 24/7.
- Same management again and again: According to model by-laws, The Managing Committee shall be elected for a term of three years. However, members of committee will not be eligible to contest elections more than twice. But the current management has been here for almost 9 years and they are still trying to contest in the upcoming elections of 2024.
- No AGM: There’s a trend of poor management in society and the MC doesn’t conduct AGMs as they should be conducting annually.
Annual General Meeting shall be held between 1st of July to 30th September each year. If it is not called within the fixed time, the Registrar shall call it. (THE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES RULES, 1927) - No Audit: The management committee as of 2024 is pathetic and doesn’t provide any audit to its members as they are bound by law to do it.
On or before 15th September of each year, the Committee of every society shall publish an annual balance sheet showing (a) the profit and loss, and (b) the receipts and expenditure of the previous financial year, and (c) the assets and liabilities as they stood on June 30th. The balance-sheet shall be in such form as the Registrar may prescribe for any society or class of societies. This balance-sheet shall be open to the inspection of any member during office hours at the office of the society and a copy thereof shall be submitted before September 30th to the Registrar and to the Auditor appointed by the Registrar for the audit of that society. (THE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES RULES, 1927) - Over-selling of plots: The Layout Plan that was approved from CDA had 1386 Plots but the management has allegedly sold over 3000 plots.
They sold almost 1200 plots between 2018 till 2024 that costs around 6,000,000,000 (6 Arab) but never showed any audit of how it was spent.
Message from an old society member:
Assalam o Alaikum respectable residents and my friends,
I first purchased 1 kanal plot in GS about 14 years back. Later I purchased another 01 kanal plot about 10 years back to make it a pair of plot. I wanted to make a good house on my lovely pair of plots for my family. I made many regular visits to GS, observe some developments however slow paced. Whenever I move to my home in Wah Cantt from surrounding societies, I felt that GS was significantly left behind despite promises that it will match or surpass Faisal Town
Since Alfalah came into power it did some development work and make significant achievements which are as follows:
- cleared land from ECHS and land grabbers. Huge achievement
- Electricity feeder, transformers and meters. Huge achievement
- Road development in Phase II. Big achievement
- Black carpeting of roads in Block C (big achievement but discriminatory)
- development of entrance roads and entrance look
- purchase of new plots to generate incomes
- Resolve legal cases
- Resolution of issues with developers
- Two schools for residents etc
Observations and recommendations:
Being a professional accountant, I observed some failures and recommend the following and these were reasons of my leaving the societies:
- Alfalah Group MC rarely called Annual General Meeting. I attended a meeting in 2018. The next meeting was probably called in 2024 (after 6 years). Not holding AGM are serious non compliances. Rec. Meeting must be held every year within the given timeline as per bylaws
- In 2018 meeting, surprisingly accounts of 2017 were presented which was against the law and norms. I raised some observations before President Sahib. In the second / last AGM, absolutely no accounts were presented. These are again extreme non compliances of by-laws. Accounts must be subject to external audit every year from a reasonably good firm of Chartered Accountants having successfully subject to ICAP Quality review
- Non shifting of office. This is a serious failure of Alfalah that despite promises Office were not shifted from Islamabad to Gulshan e Sehat premises, where plots have been sold way back and no sales promotion but development required. This will make effective cost savings and will improve interaction between MC and residents for resolution of issues, routine or otherwise
- While purchasing land probably members were not taken into confidence and therefore some members raised serious allegations of corruption on Team Alfalah, MC, founding members and closed associates. Instead of raising allegations members must ask for a meeting, evidence of transactions and audited accounts from MC.After getting evidence then allegations should be raised Recommendation. Team Alfalah must make members into confidence before going into such transactions related to purchase of inventory and subsequent sale as per by laws. Audited accounts must reflect assets, liabilities, Income generation and its disposal and appropriate disclosures should be given for land acquisition
- Monthly summary of income and expenses must be shared on GS websites for members review to ensure transparency and members confident
- The Alfalah top leadership is not living in the society. I think they should have been living in the society to get in touch with members and improvement of development and services
- Lack of maintenance services. Rec. Monthly maintenance charges should be collected and a decent level of services like MPCHS and FH should be provided
- Lack of security services. Security is of prime importance of any good society. This is the reason i also left the new city phase II. Rec. Complete boundary wall, adequate security persons be hired, constant patrolling, security cameras and constant monitoring, Residents should be issued a card and all others must be checked with identity card at entry point etc
- Lack of plantation. GS lacks adequate plantation. They must follow the aforementioned two societies in respect of plantation on roads and streets
- High rise commercial building. There should be few high rise commercial buildings and MC must make efforts to bring some renowned brands
- Lack of hospital and dispensary. The society relates to Health Ministry, therefore there should be a decent level of hospital and dispensary for residents alongwith ambulances and on this front society must be a role model
- Lack of Quality School and universities. There should be a space purchase for decent institutions like schools and universities to cater to the needs of residents
- MC must run the society like a genuine cooperative society with compliance with laws and regulations and ensure quality development to make it a brand like MPCHS
After acknowledgement of efforts, observations and recommendations were given for the benefit of Alfalah Group. Humble requests from residents or Alfalah loyalists and supporters to talk with logic without getting personal like an educated person
Members should vote on the basis of performance and integrity, considering that they’re answerable to Allah Almighty
I am sorry if anything hurt anyone
Warm regards
Farooqi (+92 333 3337786)
Ray of Hope:
The good thing is the society is a Cooperative Housing society and comes under Punjab Cooperatives Department and is bound to follow THE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES RULES, 1927 and Model by-laws so if the residents come together and write an application to Deputy Registrar Rawalpindi Rao Kashif , Registrar Punjab and the Cooperative Department regarding these issues, a legal action will be taken against management.
Member Satisfaction Survey: Health Employees Cooperative Housing Society
Objective: This survey aims to gather feedback from members regarding their satisfaction with the overall management and services of the society over the past 9 years, with a specific focus on the last 3 years. Your feedback is valuable in helping us identify areas for improvement.
https://forms.gle/bKGqkc3yFd8PXZWNA
Some more relevant sources:
https://e18members.blogspot.com
https://www.javedenterprises.com.pk/our-blog/gulshan-e-sehat-e-18
https://cooperatives.punjab.gov.pk/system/files/Model%20By%20Laws.pdf