EPA corruption: ‘Probe not meant to settle personal scores’

ACE chief’s response says nothing about the condition of EPA labs .

LAHORE:

The Anti-Corruption Establishment director general on Wednesday denied that he was trying to settle scores in holding inquiries underway against an Environment Protection Agency director over corruption charges.

Muhammad Anwar Rasheed, a former Environment Protection Department secretary, submitted before the Lahore High Court that three departmental inquiries and an ACE probe were started after complaints were received against EPA Director Tauqeer Ahmed Qureshi for misuse of authority during his tenure as director for monitoring, laboratories and projects and the senior purchase officer.



He said Qureshi had been accused of causing a loss of Rs59.9 million to the exchequer by having failed to replace faulty lab equipment during the warranty period. He said other complaints included appointment of 104 work charge employees in violation of rules, misuse of authority in using official vehicles at home, using EPA lab facilities for non-official purposes and threatening an inspector over a private dispute.

In response to the charge of embezzlement of funds worth Rs57 million, Rasheed stated on Wednesday that he was not posted at the EPA when the incident took place.

However, Rasheed said nothing on the condition of EPA laboratories in the city in his response to Qureshi’s petition seeking directions for the chief secretary to initiate a departmental probe against Rasheed for condoning corruption in the EPA.

The court directed Qureshi to file his rejoinder to Rasheed’s reply and adjourned the hearing.

Qureshi had alleged in the petition that he was being victimised for raising the issue of corruption in EPA affairs. He said the EPA laboratories were either non-functional or equipped with faulty machinery and could not be relied upon for determination of pollution levels.

He had said the agency was not implementing the Administrative Penalty Rules (APR) and allowing polluting industries to operate in the province.

Qureshi alleged that the EPA officials were condoning dumping of untreated waste into the ground by industrial units in Lahore. “This is not only adding toxic substances to the groundwater but also disturbing the geochemistry of the aquifer,” he said. He said arsenic and fluoride concentrations in groundwater of the city were above the allowed levels. He said Faisalabad’s groundwater was no longer suitable for human consumption.

Qureshi submitted that inquiries were initiated against him to prevent him from raising the issue of corruption rife in EPA affairs. He had requested the court to direct the chief secretary to hold an inquiry against the ACE director general. He also asked the EPA and the ACE be stopped from deciding the probes against him until the ACE director general was.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Qureshi’s counsel said that Rasheed’s silence over the condition of EPA laboratories meant that he was admitting irresponsible behaviour on his part which was causing harm to the public.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2015.