Lahore’s parks authority plagued with corruption allegations

Employees of PHA have been accused of stealing fuel, selling off equipment in the open market

LAHORE:

While bureaucratic inefficiency in controlling misuse of departmental funds is not unheard of, recently made allegations against the Park and Horticulture Authority (PHA) of Lahore have once again brought to light how corruption at the lowest level plagues governmental institutions.

A report sent to Punjab’s Chief Secretary, by the PHA’s outgoing Director General (DG), has revealed that the department has no inventory system containing comprehensive details of its machinery, technical assets, and motor vehicles leading to millions of rupees of corruption, on a monthly basis, in the form of fuel theft.

Furthermore, the report also states that special motors and power transformers, which cost the public exchequer multi-millions, have been sold in the open market.

Residents of the city, who are aware of the report’s public nature, are perturbed by the allegations made within it.

Aslam Agha, a long-term resident of Lahore, said that public servants have a reputation for putting their private interests first.

“These people are a burden on the national exchequer and their corruption is affecting the maintenance of the parks in the city,” Agha remarked.

Similarly, Arsalan Ali, was of the view that PHA as an institution had failed to do anything substantial for the city. Ali opined that Lahore, known as the city of the gardens, was anything but that presently. “Nearly all parks in the city are in a dilapidated condition.”

The transferred DG of the PHA, in his report, has also stated that the employees’ union of the authority has been a constant hurdle in implementing new policies, particularly those relating to increasing efficiency of employees.

Sources from the department privy to the matter concurred that the employee union had strongly opposed the implementation of a biometric attendance system.

It is pertinent to mention that the PHA has more than 7,100 employees; including 3,907 permanent workers, 3,186 daily wagers, and 1,082 contract employees. However, as per the sources, roughly 2,000 of these are ghost employees, who have not shown up to work for years, yet continue to receive their salaries.

Current Chairman PHA, Lahore, Yasir Gilani, when asked about the allegations made by his predecessor, acknowledged that ghost employees were a serious problem.

“We have terminated around 1,600 ghost employees during the employee scrutiny and verification process. Now, the number of PHA employees stands at 7,023, however, this number is also being scrutinised,” Gilani informed.

He further informed that the theft of motors and transformers worth millions of rupees had already been referred to the anti-corruption department.

“We have taken several steps to monitor the field staff and a detailed inventory of PHA assets will also be prepared soon. We have recently started saving 5 million rupees per month by taking measures against fuel theft,” said Gilani while talking to The Express Tribune.