DERA GHAZI KHAN - There are four Ramazan Bazaars operating in DG Khan district, and each has been turned into a hub of corruption by the officials of District Administration, Municipal Corporation, and three Market Committees.
According to a survey report conducted by this correspondent, corrupt mafia in the aforesaid state departments makes bogus bills worth millions of rupees each year allegedly with the connivance of contractors.
It has been learnt during the survey that the bills are made in the name of purchase, repair and rent of different items for establishing Ramazan Bazaars at Chowk Churhatta, and Model Bazaars at Kot Chutta, Taunsa Sharif, and in the heart of the city.
The data compiled during the survey reveals that in previous years, the officials of DG Khan Municipal Corporation including ex-Mayor Shahid Hameed Chanida, Chief Officer Khalid Mehmood Qamar, Municipal Officer (Regulation) Amjad, Assistant MO (Regulation) Tasleem Raza, and Sub Engineers MC Asim Nadeem and Mian Mustaqeem, with the connivance of contractors, drew a huge amount of money using bogus bills. They drew Rs1500,800 for tents’ rent at Model Bazaar, and Rs1876,000 for tents’ rent at Chowk Churatta Bazaar.
Financial irregularities plague affairs of all 4 Ramazan Bazaars
Similarly, they drew Rs207,847 for the purchase of sand at Chowk Churatta Bazaar, Rs91,500 for the purchase of rexine sheet for stalls, Rs20,500 for repair to chairs and tables, Rs89900 for sound system rent, Rs96,175 for panaflex purchase, Rs662,000 for air cooler and fans purchase, Rs49,402 for lime quick and plaster of paris purchase, Rs100,138 for electric material purchase, Rs13,000 for the purchase of rope of motorcycle stand, Rs550,000 for construction of toilets at Chowk Churhatta Bazaar, Rs181,436 for generators rent, and Rs11,200 for pipes purchase.
To make these bogus bills, all the officials and contractors violated the prescribed Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, concealed the original dates on bills, issued notices for quotation in files (paper work only) but did not display it before public properly even procedure adopted for quotation notice published in newspapers on 17-05-2017, was not as per PPRA rules.
The contractors namely Abdul Razzaq (Razzaq tent service), Faiz Ahmed Masan (Fiaz Tent Service), Abdur Rehman Khan (Rehman Shamina House), Ch Saddique (New Lahore Light House), Ch Kareem Bakhsh (Goshi Ecosound and Tent House), and Ameer Bakhsh (Nazir Ecosound and Light House) who participated in the bidding are not qualified as per the PPRA rules.
Moreover, Sardar Ghulam Muhammad Lunghah, who is a government contractor and general order supplier, does not fulfil basic criteria for qualification as contractor.
But he is a close friend of ex-Mayor Shahid Hameed Chandida, and was illegally awarded contracts of providing of sand, rexine sheet, rope, pvc pipe, electric material, lime quick and plaster of paris, and repairing of steel chairs.
