Delayed hiring of containers for 2014 sit-in questioned
Capital police floated tenders three months after dharna began
PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
The issue of alleged corruption in hiring containers during the four-months-long sit-in by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in 2014, was raised in the sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday.
It was disclosed before the committee that the Islamabad Police had issued tenders worth Rs40.24 million for hiring shipping containers to cordon off the red zone. However, the tenders were floated three months after the PTI had hunkered down in the federal capital in 2014.
The PTI and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) — led by Maulana Tahirul Qadri —had commenced their sit-in on August 16, 2014, and continued for 126 days until December 17. It required a massive mobilisation of police and law enforcing agencies to seal various areas of the federal capital with containers, especially the red zone.
The meeting of the PAC sub-committee was convened by Syed Naveed Qamar during which the audit paras of 2016-17 regarding interior ministry were examined.
The committee was informed that the Islamabad police issued tenders for renting out containers in November 2014 to block the roads and prevent the movement of the PTI and PAT protesters even though the protesters had been sitting in Islamabad since August.
The convener remarked that it was the police’s duty to stop the protesters from entering the federal capital instead of restricting them to stay there.
Operations DIG Waqaruddin Syed maintained that it was a usual practice to place containers after people reach the protest site for a sit-in. This limits the parameters of the protest, he said.
At this, the convener got angry and told the Operations DIG to limit his statement to facts.
“Don’t lie to us and tell us the reality. All those sitting here are well-educated and know what has been going around,” Qamar retorted.
DIG Syed said the sit-in was staged in 2014 and he was unaware of anything going on at that time as he had no such responsibility back then.
Qamar directed the police to submit a comprehensive report regarding the hiring of containers during the 2014 sit-in within a month.
Fee refund recommended
The subcommittee directed to recover money from the National Testing Service (NTS) which it had collected as a fee for the recruitment of police personnel in the federal capital.
Reviewing paragraphs of the audit report for the fiscal year2016-17, the subcommittee was informed by the audit officials that Islamabad Police had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the NTS for conducting the physical and written test to recruit police personnel.
In this regard, the testing service charged Rs650 from each applicant. A total of 45,939 applicants appeared for the physical test. Of these, 15,279 were allowed to appear for the written test. The remaining 30,660 applicants were declared as failed in the physical test, therefore, they were not required to sit the written test. The NTS, however, raised Rs19.929 million in fees from the 30,660 applicants who never sat the written test.
Audit officials said the involvement of a private entity in the government structure was a violation of the Civil Servants Act 1973. The committee said the money collected from the applicants who failed in the physical test and could not be entertained in the written exam should be reimbursed.
Operations DIG said the fee was collected by the NTS and that the money was still with them.
Qamar directed Interior Secretary Naseem Khokhar to recover the money from the NTS within a month and submit the report to the committee.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 16th, 2020.
The issue of alleged corruption in hiring containers during the four-months-long sit-in by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in 2014, was raised in the sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday.
It was disclosed before the committee that the Islamabad Police had issued tenders worth Rs40.24 million for hiring shipping containers to cordon off the red zone. However, the tenders were floated three months after the PTI had hunkered down in the federal capital in 2014.
The PTI and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) — led by Maulana Tahirul Qadri —had commenced their sit-in on August 16, 2014, and continued for 126 days until December 17. It required a massive mobilisation of police and law enforcing agencies to seal various areas of the federal capital with containers, especially the red zone.
The meeting of the PAC sub-committee was convened by Syed Naveed Qamar during which the audit paras of 2016-17 regarding interior ministry were examined.
The committee was informed that the Islamabad police issued tenders for renting out containers in November 2014 to block the roads and prevent the movement of the PTI and PAT protesters even though the protesters had been sitting in Islamabad since August.
The convener remarked that it was the police’s duty to stop the protesters from entering the federal capital instead of restricting them to stay there.
Operations DIG Waqaruddin Syed maintained that it was a usual practice to place containers after people reach the protest site for a sit-in. This limits the parameters of the protest, he said.
At this, the convener got angry and told the Operations DIG to limit his statement to facts.
“Don’t lie to us and tell us the reality. All those sitting here are well-educated and know what has been going around,” Qamar retorted.
DIG Syed said the sit-in was staged in 2014 and he was unaware of anything going on at that time as he had no such responsibility back then.
Qamar directed the police to submit a comprehensive report regarding the hiring of containers during the 2014 sit-in within a month.
Fee refund recommended
The subcommittee directed to recover money from the National Testing Service (NTS) which it had collected as a fee for the recruitment of police personnel in the federal capital.
Reviewing paragraphs of the audit report for the fiscal year2016-17, the subcommittee was informed by the audit officials that Islamabad Police had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the NTS for conducting the physical and written test to recruit police personnel.
In this regard, the testing service charged Rs650 from each applicant. A total of 45,939 applicants appeared for the physical test. Of these, 15,279 were allowed to appear for the written test. The remaining 30,660 applicants were declared as failed in the physical test, therefore, they were not required to sit the written test. The NTS, however, raised Rs19.929 million in fees from the 30,660 applicants who never sat the written test.
Audit officials said the involvement of a private entity in the government structure was a violation of the Civil Servants Act 1973. The committee said the money collected from the applicants who failed in the physical test and could not be entertained in the written exam should be reimbursed.
Operations DIG said the fee was collected by the NTS and that the money was still with them.
Qamar directed Interior Secretary Naseem Khokhar to recover the money from the NTS within a month and submit the report to the committee.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 16th, 2020.