Lavish menu for moon-sighting body suspended
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Caretaker Minister for Auqaf, Haj, Minorities Affairs and Information, Barrister Feroz Jamal Kakakhel has taken notice of the social media reports that 11-item menu dinner has been planned for the participants of Rueat-e-Hilal Committee meeting in Peshawar.
Social media is abuzz with reports that a tender has been issued for dinner – with 11 dishes on the menu including halwa, naranji rice, dampukh with rice and seikh kabab for 100 VIPs. Similarly, a six-dish menu had been prepared for another 100 people.
Separately a five-item high tea had also been planned. The pictures of the tender were widely circulated on social media which invited widespread criticism from the general public.
“The minister ordered suspension of the tender and an inquiry into the case. He asked secretary concerned to submit the inquiry report within 12 hours,” said an official while talking to The Express Tribune.
He said that the minister also ordered that instead of inviting 100 VIPs and 100 members of the general public, only members of the committee should be invited so as to save money.
The minister said that government was strictly following the policy of austerity and no one will be allowed to ignore it, adding that a simple dinner should be served to the members.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 11th, 2023.