ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Interior is seeking Planning Commission’s financial assistance to pay dues, pending for the past nine months, to staffers working on a project issuing machine-readable passports in Pakistani missions abroad.
Grievance Commissioner Hafiz Ahsan Ahmad Khokhar, the Senior Adviser Law and Registrar of the Federal Ombudsman said that the Directorate of Immigration and Passports was currently facing shortage of funds.
He said that the interior ministry would hold a meeting with officials of the Planning Commission on January 25 to seek financial assistance, he said.
“The Directorate of Immigration and Passports currently needs more than Rs200 million for paying the dues pending since May last year,” he said.
He said that the ministry would seek part payment from the Planning Commission and it will raise the remainder from its own resources.
“The ministry assured the federal ombudsman that the matter will be resolved by the end of this month … they will meet with the Wafaqi Mohtasib on January 27 to share progress report,” he said.
However, the spokesperson for the Directorate of Immigration and Passports Waqar Anwar claimed that funds had been released and the issue would be resolved soon.
Moreover, the interior ministry had extended the MRP project till June this year. This project was set to finish last year in December, he said.
Meanwhile, a report sent to the Ministry of Interior stated: “A sum of $78,104 is urgently required to clear the arrears of the MRP staff deputed at Pakistani Consulate-General in Manchester.”
Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office said: funds had been exhausted because the amount was spent on establishing new passport and immigration offices at national and international levels.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2017.
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