Less than a fifth Auqaf income spent on projects
Auqaf Department collected Rs539.4 million from 534 shrines across the province last year.
LAHORE:
The Auqaf Department collected Rs539.4 million from the 534 shrines across the province last year, the provincial Auqaf minister, Haji Ahsan Qureshi, told the Punjab Assembly during Wednesday’s proceedings. He said that Rs96.7 million was spent on various development projects. He said that all the money collected by the department was being spent on the shrines.
Qureshi was responding to a question put forth by Qamarul Islam, who had suggested that the Auqaf Department should be abolished altogether. Islam said that only 17 per cent of Auqaf’s income was being spent on shrines. The remaining 83 per cent, he said, was being used up by the department.
Responding to Tahir Mehmood’s question, the minister said that electronic collection boxes were being installed at shrines in a bid to control corruption.
Amna Ulfat asked the minister about tons of misprinted pages of the Holy Quran recovered from the BRB canal. Qureshi said that the culprits had not yet been tracked down. He assured the house that strict action would be taken against those responsible for dumping the pages. He said that the department had located the publisher who printed the pages and would take him to court.
He said that the department would soon launch a campaign to educate people about the exact method of preserving old pages of the Holy Quran.
He said that collection boxes were already placed outside mosques for people to dispose of old and worn out pages.
These pages, he said, were being recycled in accordance with the guidelines laid down by eminent scholars.
Nighat Nasir inquired about the vacant post of khatib at the Badshahi mosque. Qureshi said the vacancy has already been advertised and would be filled through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). He said that the post had been vacant since 1999. He denied that food from Data Darbar’s langar was being served at the department’s private events.
Syed Hasan Murtaza on DMGs:
Hasan Murtaza, a PPP MPA, said that DMG officers were plundering the province. If they were not controlled, Murtaza said, they would one day conquer the country like the East India Company.
Murtaza walked out of the house in protest against Rana Afzal, treasury MPA, who had praised the PMDC managing director, Shafqatur Rehman Ranjha, for performing two jobs on one salary. On the request of the Punjab assembly speaker, Rana Muhammad Iqbal, an MPA went out and convinced him to re-join the proceedings. Speaking on a point of order, Murtaza earlier alleged that Ranjha, the Punjab Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) managing director, was using seven government vehicles and spending thousands of rupees of taxpayers’ money on petrol in his capacity as the additional project director of the Lahore Ring Road project.
Murtaza said the provincial government should limit the bureaucracy’s spending instead of shelving development projects to free up funds for flood relief and rehabilitation efforts. He criticised the government for not taking action against Ranjha for allegedly beating up his subordinate, Attaullah Siddiqui, a PMDC secretary.
Adjournment motion for debate on rising cost of education
Zobia Rubab Malik, in an adjournment motion, requested the speaker to hold a debate on the rising cost of education and privatisation of public colleges.
She asked for the withdrawal of a 50 per cent increase in the university hostel and mess charges.
She said that if the government could not provide relief, it should refrain from putting extra burden on parents, who were already being forced to pay heavy sums in tuition fees. It was disappointing, she said, that teachers and students’ demands for their rights were not being fulfilled. She referred to newspaper reports that rising inflation had pushed another 10 million people below the poverty line. She said that the purchasing power of the common man had fallen by 50 per cent. In such circumstances, Malik said, increasing the cost of education was condemnable.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2010.
The Auqaf Department collected Rs539.4 million from the 534 shrines across the province last year, the provincial Auqaf minister, Haji Ahsan Qureshi, told the Punjab Assembly during Wednesday’s proceedings. He said that Rs96.7 million was spent on various development projects. He said that all the money collected by the department was being spent on the shrines.
Qureshi was responding to a question put forth by Qamarul Islam, who had suggested that the Auqaf Department should be abolished altogether. Islam said that only 17 per cent of Auqaf’s income was being spent on shrines. The remaining 83 per cent, he said, was being used up by the department.
Responding to Tahir Mehmood’s question, the minister said that electronic collection boxes were being installed at shrines in a bid to control corruption.
Amna Ulfat asked the minister about tons of misprinted pages of the Holy Quran recovered from the BRB canal. Qureshi said that the culprits had not yet been tracked down. He assured the house that strict action would be taken against those responsible for dumping the pages. He said that the department had located the publisher who printed the pages and would take him to court.
He said that the department would soon launch a campaign to educate people about the exact method of preserving old pages of the Holy Quran.
He said that collection boxes were already placed outside mosques for people to dispose of old and worn out pages.
These pages, he said, were being recycled in accordance with the guidelines laid down by eminent scholars.
Nighat Nasir inquired about the vacant post of khatib at the Badshahi mosque. Qureshi said the vacancy has already been advertised and would be filled through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). He said that the post had been vacant since 1999. He denied that food from Data Darbar’s langar was being served at the department’s private events.
Syed Hasan Murtaza on DMGs:
Hasan Murtaza, a PPP MPA, said that DMG officers were plundering the province. If they were not controlled, Murtaza said, they would one day conquer the country like the East India Company.
Murtaza walked out of the house in protest against Rana Afzal, treasury MPA, who had praised the PMDC managing director, Shafqatur Rehman Ranjha, for performing two jobs on one salary. On the request of the Punjab assembly speaker, Rana Muhammad Iqbal, an MPA went out and convinced him to re-join the proceedings. Speaking on a point of order, Murtaza earlier alleged that Ranjha, the Punjab Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) managing director, was using seven government vehicles and spending thousands of rupees of taxpayers’ money on petrol in his capacity as the additional project director of the Lahore Ring Road project.
Murtaza said the provincial government should limit the bureaucracy’s spending instead of shelving development projects to free up funds for flood relief and rehabilitation efforts. He criticised the government for not taking action against Ranjha for allegedly beating up his subordinate, Attaullah Siddiqui, a PMDC secretary.
Adjournment motion for debate on rising cost of education
Zobia Rubab Malik, in an adjournment motion, requested the speaker to hold a debate on the rising cost of education and privatisation of public colleges.
She asked for the withdrawal of a 50 per cent increase in the university hostel and mess charges.
She said that if the government could not provide relief, it should refrain from putting extra burden on parents, who were already being forced to pay heavy sums in tuition fees. It was disappointing, she said, that teachers and students’ demands for their rights were not being fulfilled. She referred to newspaper reports that rising inflation had pushed another 10 million people below the poverty line. She said that the purchasing power of the common man had fallen by 50 per cent. In such circumstances, Malik said, increasing the cost of education was condemnable.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2010.