Muhammad Aamir Ali
VEHARI
A citizen has remonstrated the Punjab chief minister about alleged corruption in the affairs of general bus stand by the Tehsil Municipal Administration.
Passengers suffer inconvenience due to the TMA officials’ corruption on general bus stand Vehari, Irfan said in his complaint. Areas in front of the shops situated on bus terminals and other public places have been encroached upon by the owners causing inconvenience to the passengers.
He said that transport owners placed their articles outside their kiosks, and blocked the road and footpaths that are meant by walking. There are about 200 illegal shops in the general bus stand Vehari, he added.
The complainant said that TMO Mian Azhar, TOR Rao Naeem, and others officials of TMA were involved in corruption and millions of rupees were embezzled yearly as bribe from the owner of illegally established shops, taxi and bus stands.
The encroachment by transporters and shop owners causes hurdles in the way of the visitors at the general bus stand. The passengers have to suffer inconvenience due to negligence and corruption of the TMA officials. Moreover, the shops provide unhygienic and substandard food items as they keep the same open with bees and files keep hovering. Such items cause various diseases.
The citizen complained that TMO Mian Azhar had appointed Fire Brigade personnel Abbas Khan, Akhter and driver Imran in general bus stand without any contract. They collect Rs50, Rs30, Rs20 per vehicle as per their citatory from almost 600 vehicles. They collect billions of rupees yearly and deposit only 6,500,000 in the government exchequer, he alleged.
The complainant said that all was being done under the patronage of the TMO with full political backup. A number of other complaints have been made to higher officials of Punjab government against the corruption of TMA officials but to no avail. The people demanded that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif should take strict action against the “corrupt” officers.
Former MNA Ch Nazir Jutt said that the government of Punjab should take action against the officials of TMA. However, TMO Mian Azhar could not be accessed for his comments on the issue.