In a reversal of fortune, home department grilled on too much spending, too few receipts

MQM’s MPA skewers officials in Zulfiqar Mirza’s absence.

KARACHI:

The Sindh home and prisons department did not get any gold stars for its audit as the Public Accounts Committee pointed out problems worth millions of rupees with the department’s records.

Committee chairperson Sardar Jam Tamachi Unar started the grilling on Thursday when he asked Acting Home Secretary Muhammad Riazuddin why neither Home Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan nor Sindh IG Prisons Ghulam Qadir Thebo were present.

The sheepish excuses Riaz gave barely seemed to convince any of the committee members, including MPAs Shama Mithani, Ghulam Mujadid Isran and Muhammad Moin Aamir Pirzada.

The home department is technically still being headed by the minister-on-sick-leave, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza. Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Pirzada lost no opportunity in taking potshots at the department officials, who were unable to explain how funds in excess of Rs230 million had been used up between 2006 and 2009.

The officials were also told off for submitting documents to the committee just a day before and that too, late in the evening. “How can the members verify and study the home department or the auditor’s claims?” asked Pirzada.

Eleven out of the 18 draft paras put forward by the home department had to be deferred to the next meeting because they could not be settled or explained.

The auditors complained that the home department did not give proper documentation for Rs115.56 million, which was supposedly paid in compensation to families of people killed on May 12, 2007 and in the Nishtar Park blast, 2006.

The committee was informed that a detailed audit was required to verify the record of spending for Rs48.82 million on dietary items (food, drinks etc) between 2004 and 2006 in the IG Prisons, Hyderabad office.

The committee members were shocked to find out that the department had not paid Rs21.32 million in utility bills for several officials living in government quarters, especially those who come under the Khairpur, Sukkur, Larkana and Shikarpur prisons. Unar asked why no effort was made to get the money back. Riazuddin said meetings were being held with the Sui gas company and the solution was to go after individuals instead of relying on a bulk-metering system. The committee members pointed out that this was a simple management issue.

“Why are you embarrassing us? We have a lot of expectations from you,” Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Mithani reprimanded Riaz.

Unar asked Riaz to explain “what exactly the home secretary does”.

The acting secretary tried to justify this by saying that under the new system, the home department’s role had been marginalised.

“You can at least improve the financial management, if nothing else,” Unar said.

The auditors contradicted the home department officials’ claims that the record of fees for arms licences, passport challans, driving licences, etc. were not kept with them but were with banks and post offices.

Unar, who hails from Nawabshah, asked the DIG prisons about the condition of jails in his hometown. When he was told that everything was good there with the best possible facilities such as cooked food and medicines being provided to the inmates, Unar interrupted and asked who was providing drugs and mobile phones to the prisoners. The DIG admitted that some officials were found involved in the illegal practice and said that recently three jail officials were sacked at Karachi central jail when they were caught smuggling phones inside.

The committee asked the home department to submit a list of all persons in jails who have not been able to pay their fines.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th,  2011.