Officials face cattle market probe

LG secretary reinstates two suspended officers

LAHORE:

The anti-corruption department has registered a case against eight officials of grade seven to 20 and five contractors after unearthing a fraud in the Lahore Metropolitan Corporation in setting up cattle markets.

However, according to sources, the number of suspects in the case is higher as 43 employees were involved in the work and approval related to the case. The sources said the local government secretary had reinstated some of the suspended officers while the investigation was under way.

The metropolitan corporation recently lodged a corruption case against its officials, including Ali Bukhari, Mian Waheed, Yousuf Sindhu, Nadeem Tahir, Sidra Zafar, Zubair Wattoo, Muhammad Qaisar and Muhammad Faisal besides five contractors who carrying out work worth Rs1.68 billion last year for setting up cattle markets in the city along with lighting, tents and construction of roads.

The local government department suspended the officers and ordered an inquiry under the PEEDA Act.

The cattle markets had been set up in 11 areas across the city on Eidul Azha in 2021 at a cost of Rs760 million, while Rs100 million had been spent on the civil works. When orders were issued last year by the Punjab government to set up cattle markets in the city, the deputy commissioner of Lahore wrote to the metropolitan corporation that if the pre-qualified contractors were willing to work at the previous rates, they should do so as per the rules.

A seven-member committee was formed for the purpose, in which PEPRA officer Shahid Hussain was also included.

A summary was sent regarding providing facilities in the markets and other arrangements, for which a budget was assigned and after its approval, the contracts to set up 13 markets in the city instead of 11 were given.

The markets were set up on June 25 last year and the contractors were paid Rs1.1 billion out of the agreed Rs1.53 billion after the deduction of 26 per cent tax. The reason for the increase of such a large amount in the expenses in one year was stated as a hike in the fuel cost and the installation of two additional markets. The price of petroleum had increased by about Rs160 per litre as compared to 2021, while Rs230 million was paid for the two cattle markets set up additionally.

The sources said Rs204 million had been spent on fuel in 2021 and Rs729 million in 2022.

The officers in the Nishtar, Aziz Bhati, Gulberg, Kahna Kacha, Ravi, Data Ganj Bakhsh, Shalimar, Allama Iqbal and Raiwind were involved in the approval process along with the SDOs, zonal, point and shift in-charges.

The metropolitan corporation administration formed an evaluation committee for the payment of the bills, which approved them but deducted 5% of the amount over poor arrangements.

The audit department is responsible for checking all the income of the metropolitan corporation as per law, after approval of which the accounts department disburses the money.

The anti-corruption authorities have suspended eight employees and registered cases against them, while provincial Secretary Dr Muhammad Irshad has appointed Sardar Naseer as the inquiry officer. According to the sources, one of the officials facing action, Zubair Wattoo, is working as Chief Officer in Faisalabad.

Contractors Rashid Ali and Malik Tanveer say an investigation officer has registered the case against them although they had done the work assigned to them as per the agreement and received the agreed amount.

The suspended officials also claim that the case is false.

Meanwhile, the local government secretary has reinstated Lahore Metropolitan Corporation CEO Ali Bukhari and Chief Corporation Officer Zubair Wattoo.

Punjab Local Government Secretary Dr Irshad said the anti-corruption department had suspended the officers after a case was registered against them, but it had been found later that some of them were not linked to the case, so they had been reinstated.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2023..