Unlawful activities: Govt contractors decry favouritism in public health department

Claim it disclosed submission dates for bidding to only a select few contractors affiliated with PTI.

MINGORA:

Swat district’s government contractors have accused officials of the public health department of favouring a few contractors that belong to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Addressing a news conference at the Swat Press Club on Thursday, government contractors led by Mohammad Javed, Ihsanullah, Gohar Rehman, Habibullah and Raham Zada demanded the government to take immediate notice of the matter.

According to the contractors, the public health department’s officials deliberately did not disclose submission dates for bids for several projects to them. However, some contractors who are allegedly affiliated with PTI were informed, they claimed.

“When we learnt of the dates, we also went to the department with complete documents to submit our bids but the head clerk made us wait outside and only let a select few go inside. After some time, he told us to go back as the deadline had passed,” said Mohammad Javed.

The government contractors claimed they tried to talk about the issue with the department XEN and other office-bearers but they refused to listen to them.

“There is no one in the government to question the public health department in Swat so its officials award contracts based on favouritism. This illegal behaviour has created concerns among contractors,” alleged Raham Zada.

The unhappy contractors further said they had filed a case in the district court against irregularities and favouritism in the department, and demanded the government to investigate their complaints and take stern action against responsible officials.

On the other hand, Suleman, the head clerk at Divisional Public Health Office, told The Express Tribune that the department advertised tenders openly and accepted bids purely on merit.  He claimed he only refused to accept documents of those who failed to submit their bids by the proposed time. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2014.