Hindu Panchayat accuses minority minister’s firm of corruption

The firm was awarded the Rs470m contract to renovate Sadh Belo temple.

SUKKUR: Members of the Hindu Panchayat have accused a firm owned by Sindh Minister for Minority Affairs Dr Mohan Lal Koshistani of engaging in large-scale corruption, after it was awarded a contract to repair and renovate the historic Sadh Belo temple.

Sadh Belo Parbandhak Committee chairperson Advocate Mukesh Kumar and Hindu Panchayat senior vice president Ashok Kumar Dhanvani took up the issue with Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on Sunday. The chief minister was accompanied by Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Khursheed Ahmed Shah and MNA Nauman Islam Shaikh.

The Sadh Belo temple is located on an island that was previously known as Menak Parbat, in the middle of River Indus.



According to legend, Baba Bankhandi Maharaj came to the site in 1823, when he was 15 years old, and died there at the age of 60. Sant Harnam Das, the Maharaj’s eighth gaddi nasheen (caretaker), began constructing the temple in 1889.

Kumar and Dhanvani told The Express Tribune that the government had allocated Rs470 million for the construction of three 36-room hostels within the temple’s premises, as well as raising the temple’s boundary wall, renovating its marble tiles, and carrying out electrification work.

“Not a single member of the Hindu Panchayat or the Sadh Belo Parbandhak Committee was nominated to the supervisory committee, and a free hand was given to the contractor,” complained the two community leaders. They alleged that the firm has run up bills amounting to Rs50 million so far, with nothing to show except for a ground that has been dug up.

Khursheed Shah confirmed the allegations, and said that Kohistani’s company had purchased two tractors and two jeeps from the funds that had been allocated for the project. He advised the chief minister to withdraw the contract from Kohistani’s firm and to give it to the public works department.

When contacted, Dr Kohistani told The Express Tribune that he did not own the firm, and that he was just supervising the repair and renovation work at the temple. “No funds have been misappropriated, and we used our department’s funds to purchase the tractors and jeeps,” said Kohistani.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2013.