Officialdom dents austerity crusade

LAHORE In blatant contradiction to assertions of the 'austerity-pronouncing government, the babus of the Punjab have spent Rs 53.52 million on the renovation of 27 houses, located in the official compound of Gazetted Officers Residences-I. This figure is excluded from amount of the last four years of the previous regime, when Rs 158.436 were spent on renovation. Moreover, these 27 GOR-I residences have been pointed out because of renovation cost exceeded Rs1m, while the rest of the 'petty amounts have been excluded from the list. On average, Rs 4m have been spent on one house over a period, and this is not the end of the fiscal statement since every new occupant of these houses needed refurbishment, and this process never stops. However, positive aspect has been put forth as well since it has been observed in a report that for the reconstruction of these 27 houses, the government needed to spend Rs 297m, but cost of renovation was only Rs 53.52m; hence Rs 240m had been saved. The renovations do not have any new construction since these amounts have been spent on washrooms, main gates, outer-boundaries, tile work, aluminium windows and doors, change of electricity wires. The official sources have reasoned out that these houses were constructed between 1890 and 1894, that is, over a century ago. With the passage of time, huge damage has been done to the houses, mainly constructed with mud, and because of heavy rainy season every year, moisture has seeped into every inch of construction. In quite a few cases, widows of senior officers have been accommodated, and the Punjab government is under obligation to provide better living facilities to them. While further justifying the amount, it has been mentioned that ceilings of houses especially 3, 11 Danepure Lane, 17-Golf Road, 14 and 24 Aikmen Road were made of wood, which had rottened over a period, thus needing reconstruction. These residences also include Chief Ministers Secretariat 3-Club Road, where Rs 1.417m were used for fixing tiles in rooms and corridors. For renovating 9-Aikmen Road, Chief Secretarys residence, Rs 1.508m were spent, while at 4-Aikmen Road, residence of Additional Chief Secretary Muhammad Sami Saeed, the cost of renovation was Rs 1.412m. For 14-Aikmen Road residence of Secretary Services and General Administration Department Jallal Sikander Sultan Rs 3.219m; 8A-Club Road Chief Operating Officer Abid Saeed Rs 1.166m; 14-Club Road Najam Saeed of the S&GAD Rs 1.056; 16-Club Road ex-Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad Rs 1.738m; 12 Golf Road former secretary Major (retd) Iqbal Ahmad Khawaja 12A-Club Road Secretary Auqaf Tariq Mahmood Pasha Rs 1.092; 14-Golf Road ex-Chairman Planning and Development Board Salman Ghani Rs 2.032m; 16-Golf Road ex CS Salman Siddique accumulative figure of Rs 3.355m; 17-Golf Road Rs 2.933m; 3-Danepur Lane ex-MBoR late Nadeem Manzoor Rs 2.821m; 8-Danepur Lane Secretary Health Muhammad Jehanzaib Khan Rs 2.452m, 11-Danepur Lane widow of ex-Project Director Seerat Academy Khawaja Muhammad Tariq Rs 4.142m; 16-Danepur Lane Rs 1.1m; 2-Danepur Lane Rs 1.598m; 1-Patiala House Rs 1.658m; 20-Club Road Rs 1.182m; 6-Golf Lane Rs 2.113m and renovation of 6-Danepur Lane deposed Federal Secretary Kamran Lashari cost Rs 2.605m. Six residences, falling under the head of the Lahore High Court, have cost Rs 2.491m, Rs 2.978m, Rs 1.296m, Rs 1.557m, Rs 1.184 and Rs 1.817m respectively.