Rescue 1122 control wrested away from home dept

DG has reportedly been aggravated by home department’s intervention

LAHORE: Rescue 1122 Director General Rizwan Naseer has managed to wrestle control of the service from the Punjab Home Department and had it transferred to the Services and General Administration Department.

The Express Tribune learnt the DG was aggravated by the constant checks and balances of the home department.  Finally, during a health review meeting on March 3, 2017, Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif gave in to the demands of Rizwan and transferred control of the service.

According to a notification available with The Express Tribune, he instructed the transfer of administrative control of Punjab Emergency Services (Rescue 1122) to the Services and General Administration Department of Punjab.

It was further ordered in the notification to initiate a summary for the chief minister to make the necessary amendment in the Punjab Government Rules of Business, 2011.

A copy of the notification was CCd to the Minister for Finance Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education, Primary & Secondary Health Punjab, Additional Chief Secretary and all concerned departments.



The cold war between the home department and Rescue 1122 started after Rizwan was asked to follow government procedures to rejoin the same post. The issue was further aggravated after an 11-member committee was formed by the chief minister for the purchase of ambulances at the end of last year.

This committee was formed after irregularities were found in the purchases of Chinese emergency services vehicles which were found to be not suited for the job and expensive to maintain.

Sources further revealed Rescue 1122 favoured one company for the modification of all these vehicles. They added Rescue 1122, despite recommendations of the committee, wanted to purchase the vehicles of its own choice. The matter was also raised at a recent meeting of the same committee which lasted several hours.

It raised concerns its concerned over the DG giving an ad for procurement without approval. The committee also held reservations over Naseer’s proposal to purchase single cabin pickups for ambulances and a certain make of motorcycles which was not approved by the government. The committee confined the DG to follow the rules.

According to the sources, the home department also reverted an order by Rizwan Naseer to suspend Punjab Emergency Services deputy director on February 6. The official was also a member of the ambulance purchase committee.



It was revealed that the department, through a notice, asked the DG to explain the suspension, but the latter never replied. It was reportedly found that Rizwan suspended the deputy director for his alleged involvement in steering members of the committee against him.

The home department also reportedly restrained Rizwan Naseer from taking control of the Emergency Services Academy in January 2017.

An official of the home department claimed the DG had ulterior motives behind the dubious manner of purchase. The official added that the department was thwarting all attempts to proceed with such purchases.

“Naseer does not want to follow any rules of the government and wants one company to benefit. “

The official continued that since Rescue 1122 is to purchase around 313 ambulances, 900 bikes and over 70 fire trucks worth over 10 billion, the DG wants full control over the buying process.

Director General Rescue 1122 Rizwan Naseer was not available for comments directly or via his public relations officer.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2017.