PESHAWAR - Music Welfare Society, a non-government organisation working for the rights and welfare of artists’ community, stressed the Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak and Chief Secretary Azam Khan to take notice of alleged corruption in recently held ‘Hunar Mela’ by officials of the tourism department and expose the culprits involved in the scam.
While talking to media persons at Peshawar Press Club on Saturday, the society president Zahir Shah alleged that the officials of KP Tourism Department illegally awarded a contract worth millions of rupees to a firm on bogus documents, which, he said, was even not registered.
Flanked by artists Waheed Achakzai and Rashid Khan, Shah said that no merit was followed in award of the contracts rather the department only bestowed blue-eyed ones. He said that Shahbaz Khan, deputy director of the culture department, initiated an inquiry into the irregularities of millions of rupees held in Hunar Mela, but report of the inquiry was not disclosed by secretary sports and tourism department due to unknown reasons, he added.
Shah also said that the provincial government had assured them to make the inquiry report public, but despite lapse of three months, the report was not publicised. It spread a sense of anxiety among the artists, he said.
They stressed the PTI-led KP government, chief secretary and the authorities concerned of tourism department to expose the corrupt officials involved in the scam by publicising the inquiry report, and take action against the firm on the given recommendations.
They also threatened to hold a protest sit-in in front of Peshawar Press Club if the government failed to take action in this regard.
