Nine irrigation officers in Ghotki booked on charges of corruption

The men have been accused of embezzling funds, but they refute the allegations.

SUKKUR:

The anti-corruption police in Ghotki has registered case against nine irrigation officers, including Guddu Barrage’s chief engineer, for allegedly embezzling funds.

Shafi Mohammad Darwaish, a landlord residing in Abdul Latif Darwaish village near Mirpur Mathelo, filed a petition in the anti-corruption court in Ghotki in April 2011. He complained that the tube well the government installed on his land was out of order for a long time and had not been repaired. Darwaish said that he approached many officials, including Guddu Barrage’s superintendent engineer Mohammad Ishaq Abbasi and executive engineer for scarp, Mohammad Hayat Shaikh, requesting them to fix it.

The officers reportedly demanded Rs250,000 from him, saying that they were short of funds and that he would have to pay for the repair out of his own pocket. Darwaish claimed he gave them Rs50,000 and promised that the rest would be paid soon. Despite this, the officers did not fix the tube well.

“The scarp division has installed hundreds of tube wells in Ghotki to pump saline water, but dozens of them are not working. The officers are pocketing money instead of spending it on the repair of infrastructure. This is causing a loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer,” said Darwaish. He also alleged that Sindh Irrigation Department Authority (SIDA) officers don’t repair broken tube wells so they can force landlords to cough up money.

The court, after hearing his application, ordered the police to register a case against nine irrigation officers on October 12. Saifullah Phulpoto, the assistant director of the anti-corruption police in Ghotki, told The Express Tribune that the case had indeed been registered, but no arrests have been made as yet.

He said that the booked men are Guddu Barrage’s chief engineer, Irshad Memon, superintendent Mohammad Ishaq Abbasi, executive engineer for scarp, Mohammad Hayat Shaikh, executive engineers Abdul Latif Kalwar and Dur Mohammad Behalkani, sub-divisonal officers Zahoor Ahmed Shaikh, Qurban Kalwar and Khadim Hussain Jagirani and a storekeeper, Mehboob Ali Kalhoro.

When contacted, Memon told The Express Tribune he was SIDA’s director in Ghotki at the time Darwaish had gone to court and in this post he had nothing to do with complaints about broken tube wells - the executive engineers were responsible for that. He also refuted the charges of corruption, saying that the funds had been utilised properly.

When contacted, the superintendent of the Guddu Barrage said that he was too busy to comment on the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2012.