CM orders inquiry into Gorakh Hill project

Authority meant for development of hill station plagued with corruption

KARACHI:

After the reports of massive bungling and misappropriation of funds in the development of the Gorakh Hill Station, one of highest plateaus of Sindh located in Dadu district, Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar sought an explanation from the director general of the Gorakh Hill Authority.

The CM said that the Gorakh Hill project, despite using huge amount of funds, has not been completed. He said there were reports that the funds were pocketed by the officers concerned.

He added that the project has 18 drivers and a fleet of vehicles but most of them were being misused for other purposes.

Interim CM said that he has received reports that the 12 cooks of the Gorakh Hill Project were working at the homes of private persons instead of working at the resort and even the resorts were being misused instead of hosting tourists.

The CM directed the chief secretary to issue an explanation letter to the director of the project and initiate a high-level inquiry to probe into the matters and report to him within 15 days.

Officials having knowledge of the developments told The Express Tribune that billions of rupees have been earmarked since the Gorakh Development Authority was established in 2008 after Sindh Assembly passed the law. "The development authority was supposed to acquire 284,597 acres of land but is misused Rs23 billion in the name of development of the hill station which is considered as Murree of Sindh," an official referring to a report said adding that chief minister was informed how development work has only been shown in papers by doing nothing on ground.

It may be mentioned here that Gorak, situated at a height of 5688 feet above sea level, was first identified as a potential tourist spot by the British government in 1860, it was in 1988 that late Pakistan People Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto undertook Gorakh Hill's development.

As per the plan, resorts, golf clubs, parks, a zoo, a chairlift facility, a helipad, waterfalls, houses, residential apartments, motels, slaughterhouses, vocational training centres, amenity facilities, such as schools, dispensaries, maternity homes, restaurants and tuck shops are to be set up at the hill station. Besides, initiatives have also been planned for industrial and socio-economic development.

Read Caretaker Sindh CM sacks seven 'corrupt officers' of BoR

Since then, the initiative remains in limbo, with the hill station witnessing no proper development.

No sanitary worker to dive into sewer

Caretaker CM has directed Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) and other municipal organisations to stop sending the sanitary worker into manholes to pen clogged gutters.

Use machinery instead of human beings for opening the choked gutters, Baqar said taking serious notice of the practice and method under which sanitary workers are sent inside the choked gutters, full of toxic water and gases.

Sending workers in choked overflowing gutters is totally unacceptable attitude, he said asserting this inhuman practice needs to be stopped at once, he said.

Baqar directed KWSC and other agencies to use machinery for opening chocked gutters.

Justice Baqar gave these directives to the KWSC top management in a meeting he chaired at CM House recently and now similar instructions have been given to all the organisations involved in managing and maintaining the sewerage system in the province.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2023.