Question Hour: Finance minister quizzed over Bank of Punjab

LAHORE: Members of the Punjab Assembly criticised the performance and hiring process of the Bank of Punjab as Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira answered questions about his department on Monday.

Shaikh Allauddin of the PML-Q-(Like Minded) focussed on the BoP branches in Kasur district and the hiring at the bank between 2002 and 2005. Kaira said that the bank had recruited almost 900 people in that period on merit.

But Allauddin insisted that the process was riddled with favouritism. “Not all the posts were advertised, and we all know what that means,” he said. “They hire the people with handsome faces or who have relatives in the right places.”

He added that most of the favouritism occurred in the hiring of officers in grades 2 or 3, who often went on to sanction bad loans. “The bank performance cannot improve until the recruitment process is fixed,” he said.

Kaira responded that the recruitment process was the same as in the private sector. He noted that the bank branch in Pattoki had cut its losses from Rs31 million in 2009 to Rs12 million in 2010, which was an improvement.

Allauddin said that Pattoki was a city of businessmen and the branch should not be running at a loss at all. He complained that the minister had not provided details of the inquiries conducted into allegations of corruption against BoP officers. He said that a BoP official at the Chunian branch, whom he identified as Abid Daula, had run away to Dubai after a multimillion rupee scam.

Kaira said two officials were currently being investigated for corruption. He said he would present the inquiry into the incident at the Chunian branch that Allauddin was referring to in two days.

Malik Aamir Dogar of the ruling party asked why four of the bank’s branches in Multan division were being kept open since they were running at a loss.

The minister responded that the branches at Chowk Shaheedan and Jatoi were now profitable and the other two branches were doing better too.

Other members quizzed the minister on the bank’s branches in Khanewal, Lodhran and Gujranwala.

Nighat Nasir Sheikh suggested that the government raise the housing allowance for its employees in Punjab’s small towns and cities in view of the rising cost of living. Kaira said the housing allowance for government employees in big cities was higher because rents were higher. He also said that rents were not as likely to rise sharply since they were usually negotiated over the long term.

In response to another question from the same member, Kaira said the policy whereby government employees were given increments when they got additional qualifications had been stopped because it was being abused. For example, teachers of one subject were getting degrees in other subjects to boost their salary, though not their relevant skills.

Malik Dogar also asked the minister about the work of the Local Fund Audit section of the Finance Department. He asked what action had been taken against the 20 tehsil municipal administrations (TMAs) that had been audited for the period 2001-02 to 2007-08.

Kaira said that it was not the Local Fund Audit’s job to discipline officials for irregularities, but the job of the department concerned.

Dogar said that the government needed to act quickly in this regard. “A lot of money flowed through local governments under the previous regime. We had pledged to hold them accountable.

Now the local governments have been suspended for over a year and nothing is being done,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2011.