Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz lawmakers abuse Water and Sanitation Agency resources too
Local Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Use of official resources in Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) is not a new phenomenon and the PML-N
lawmakers are no exception as several of them are using vehicles, offices and other resources of the agency to perform their ‘duties’.
When it comes to the use of official vehicles, offices and other resources, politicians of both the previous and present regime have similar mindsets and did not want to lose a single opportunity to ‘cash’.
Senior officials of Wasa claimed that after coming into power, the PML-N lawmakers also started acting like their predecessors. They said first example this was when Wasa officials were directed to install a generator on the tubewell at Mohni Road near the house of a PML-N MNA who was also the vice chairman of the agency in last regime.
The Wasa authorities got the generator on rent and installed it as per the direction but later the local residents objected to its sound so it was sent back. The MNA was again given the slot of vice chairman of Wasa and after taking charge of the office, he established his office in the Committee room of Wasa head office. Officials, requesting anonymity, said the vice chairman visited the Wasa office and after having a briefing in the Committee room, he directed the Wasa authorities to turn the Committee room into his office, which they did.
Interestingly, when the MNA came out of the Wasa building, he found a Toyota double cabin parked in the parking lot and upon inquiry; he was told that the vehicle was in use of the Wasa’s Director PMU. The officials claimed that the MNA asked the authorities to handover the vehicle to him.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Toyota Double Cabin remained in the use of one of the former director generals of LDA. The senior official got possession of this vehicle during his tenure and even after his appointment as DG Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA); the officer retained the vehicle for about one year.
Wasa sources said the vehicle was one of the four donated by Japanese government to the PMU. The sources said that another double cabin (LWC-5490) of Wasa PMU was snatched by dacoits in October 2006, when the vehicle was doing some ‘official’ work in Raiwind area on the instructions of former Provincial Minister for Housing Syed Raza Ali Gillani.
The robbers took the vehicle along with its driver, Fateh Khan, to Thaing Moree where they released the driver. A case was registered in this regard in the Hujra Shah Muqeem police station, which is situated in the constituency of the former provincial minister.
The sources claimed that a high-level inquiry was launched into the incident and finally a summary regarding writing off the vehicle was submitted before the former Punjab Chief Minister Ch Pervaiz Elahi.
Another interesting incident took place when the PML-N Lahore President Mian Marghoob Ahmed occupied the office of a senior Wasa official in one of its main disposal station. Following the footsteps of his party’s Lahore president, Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Mashood also got another office of another senior Wasa official in the same disposal station and established his office.
During the previous regime, a set of sewer cleaning machinery, which includes a jetting machine, a sucking machine and a truck of Wasa PMU, was shifted to Gujrat Town Municipal Administration (TMA). The officials said the machinery was shifted to Gujrat on the directions of the former chief minister and until today, the machinery was operating in Gujrat.
Interestingly, Wasa Lahore is bearing all the maintenance and repair costs of that machinery. Senior Wasa officials were of the view that increasing political interference in the agency and use of its resources had become routine and were resulting in low performance of its officials.
They said the recent arrest of a senior agency official had also caused fears in majority of the officers.When contacted, Wasa MD Dr Javed Iqbal said the chief minister had made Bilal Yasin as vice chairman of Wasa and that was why the agencyís authorities were facilitating him.
He said there was no space for a new office so the Committee room was turned into the vice chairman’s office. To a question about the vehicle, he said it was given to the Vice Chairman because he was also visiting the City in monsoon season and was monitoring the agency. Replying to a question about the possession of two rooms in the Gulshan-e-Ravi Disposal Station, he said the politicians have promised him to vacate the rooms very soon.
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on Jul 30 2008. Filed under