Art and Craft Village management: Senate panel to discuss ‘controversial deal’ today
As a parliamentary panel meets today (Monday) to discuss the Potohari Art and Craft Village (PACV) issue, the management of the village seems to be adamant to continue their activities.
The management, in its board meeting on Friday, finalised a plan for organising festivals in the next four months. A press release issued by the Sungi Foundation, a major partner of the Indus Heritage Trust that runs the affairs of the PACV, says the “board members resolved ... to face hurdles and obstacles that will occur in the functioning of Potohari Art and Craft Village”, ostensibly showing their stance to defy the court and lawmakers’ directives on the issue.
Despite strong criticism from citizens and media reports, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is reluctant to revoke the controversial agreement it has reached with the Indus Heritage Trust (IHT), a non-government organisation (NGO), over the management of the village.
A district court had also restrained the management from organising any activity in the village set up on the Shakarparian Hills. But the IHT did not comply with the court order and organised an event on the International Women Day in March this year. Their non-compliance compelled lawmakers to intervene in the matter.
Sources in the CDA’s planning directorate told The Express Tribune on Sunday that despite court order and parliamentary panel’s intervention, Member Planning Tahir Shahmshad allowed the management to hold series of events in the village.
Defying the court orders and to appease his friends, Tahir Shahmshad also issued a show-cause notice to the staff of PACV, who upheld the law and opposed the deal.
Salaries of the village staff have not being released by the trustees using delay tactics to punish them, who have been told that “things won’t be easy from now on.”
An official in the CDA planning directorate claimed that this resulted in the death of a driver’s father, as the driver went unpaid till the middle of the month for no reason.
The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet in its meeting on July 14 had directed the CDA chairperson to rectify the anomalies in the agreement and submit a report to it.
CDA member planning fled to Quetta under the pretext of attending a wedding to avoid the Senate Standing Committee hearing headed by Senator Shahid Bugti.
During the committee hearing, the CDA chairperson and member finance were put on the hot seat and Senator Bugti told them that he will recommend filing of a constitutional petition in the Supreme Court on the matter. “The member planning will have to give a reply to the queries from the standing committee; he cannot run and hide from me,” Senator Bugti said.
A constitutional petition has already been filed in the Supreme Court seeking legal action against the incumbent and former CDA chairpersons for dubiously awarding a contract to the NGO for the completion of an art and craft village at Saidpur. The allocation for the project was increased from Rs185 million to Rs333 million.
CDA on August 10, 2004 advertised an expression of interest (EoI) in several newspapers, seeking pre-qualification to compete for what became the Potohari Art and Craft Village. But, the petitioner said, the contract was awarded to IHT, which did not fulfil the criteria mentioned in the advertisement. He said the main objective of setting up the village was to promote Pakistani cultural heritage and support artisans. However the CDA failed to achieve any of the objectives, he added.
He said IHT did not possess the relevant technical knowledge and experience to complete the project and was registered 11 days after the publication of the advertisement on August 21, 2004, against rules.
An internal audit of IHT also revealed problems in the deal. “The arrangement was designed in non-transparent manner by the CDA to favour IHT and SUNGI,” the petitioner said, adding that the dubious practice was still continuing in the affairs of the village.
He said the CDA was acting as the protector and guardian of the two NGOs. The petitioner asked the Supreme Court to restrain Sungi and IHT from operating as management consultants for the village.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 25th, 2011.
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