Shahbaz Sharif Projects in Punjab and his Government style.

[Syed Haider Imam]

http://e.dunya.com.pk/detail.php?date=2015-10-03&edition=LHR&id=1917164_92799844

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

http://e.dunya.com.pk/detail.php?date=2015-10-07&edition=LHR&id=1923594_98485863

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

پنجاب کے نفسیاتی مریض اعلی کی ترجیحات میں تو تعلیم ہے ہی نہیں تو باجی مریم ٧٣ ملین امریکی ڈالر سی کیسے اس شعبے میں انقلاب لے کر آیئں گی ؟

اگر اپ بھی نفسیاتی مریض بننا چاھتے ہیں تو پنجاب میں اسکولوں کی حالت زار پر مبنی چند اخباری خبریں پڑھ لیں . پنجاب کے اسکولوں میں مستقبل کے گدھے تیار ہو رہیں ہیں جو اگے چل کر اس پارٹی کو ووٹ دیں گے
پتا نہیں اب یہ خاندان تعلیم کے شعبے میں اور کیا تباہی لے کر آئے گا

پہلے نفسیاتی مریض کا ایک اور شاھکار دعوا

مگر حقیت کیا ہے ؟

جن لوگوں نے سسٹم چلانا ھے وہ ٢٠١٦ میں پہنچ کر ٢٠٠١ کے سسٹم
میں واپس جا رھیں ہیں ...........ذرا حکمت عملی ملھذا فرمائیں ، نظام نیا یا پورانا ..........پتا ہی نہیں

ماضی حال میں اگر ایک ارب دانش اسکول پر خرچ آیا تھا تو ٢ ارب اشتہاروں میں جھونک دیا گیا تھا
نتیجہ ، صفر

سب فنڈز نفسیاتی مریض نے میٹرو پروجیکٹس میں جھونک دئے ہیں

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

 

[pablo]

http://www.dailymashriq.com.pk/index.php?edition=&date=&page=4&type=

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

لاہور کے ہسپتالوں میں لاہوری بزرگ ، جوان اور بچے سرکاری ہسپتالوں میں تڑپ تڑپ کا جان دے رہیں مگر حکومت پنجاب اگلے الیکشن کی تیاری میں مصروف
وہ بھی
مختلف محکموں کے بجٹ کی کٹوتی کر کے
اور عوام پر بلواسطہ ٹیکس کی بھرمار سے
اور نام کس کا
ایک ذہنی مریض کا..... جو مینٹل ہسپتال کے ارد گرد ایک نئی دنیا کی تخلیق میں گم

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

Multan metro project scandal

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[Imran the legend]

Shabaz slave what about model town.

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

AGP report: Punjab accounts show irregularities at Rs36b

LAHORE:

The Auditor General of Pakistan has unearthed irregularities totalling over Rs36.94 billion in the accounts of the Government of the Punjab during the financial year 2015-16.
The AGP report, available with The Express Tribune, points out Rs.20.64 billion worth of reported cases of fraud, embezzlement, and theft, misuse of public resources amounting to Rs.1.04 billion, losses due to the weaknesses of internal controls to the tune of Rs1.82 billion, recoveries and overpayments representing cases of established overpayments or misappropriations of public money of Rs4.11 billion, losses due to non-production of records valued at Rs7.81 billion, and other cases such as accidents and negligence amounting to Rs1.52 billion.


Other tabulations in the AGP report show unsound asset management causing losses of Rs414.21 million, weak financial management hitting the exchequer for Rs11.92 billion, weak internal control relating to financial management causing Rs23.5 billion in losses, and ‘others’ being responsible for Rs1.11 billion in losses

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1506723/agp-report-punjab-accounts-show-irregularities-rs36b/

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

Governance through companies
​

By Adnan Adil
Published: August 22, 2016
​

The officers serving in these companies get incentives in the form of attractive compensations, normally 10-15 times higher than their normal salaries. For example, the civil servants serving in energy companies of the Punjab government are drawing Rs1.5-2 million per month in salaries compared to salaries of around Rs150,000 to 200,000 for grade-21 and grade-22 officers. The legality of a higher salary to a serving civil servant as an executive officer of a limited company is questionable. Under the official rules, a civil servant deputed in a government-owned company is only entitled to a deputation allowance, which amounts to around Rs6,000 and cannot receive higher emoluments. Some blue-eyed officers of the rulers are simultaneously enjoying perks and privileges of being CEOs of these companies as well as government servants.

It is argued that there is no motivation for civil servants to work hard for long hours while working on a meagre salary of a government officer. A higher monetary reward at par with the corporate sector induces a civil servant to work harder for the timely completion of projects. This argument, however, ignores a surfeit of perks and privileges high-ranking bureaucrats enjoy in the form of government-owned vehicles, fuel, government residences and an army of servants at their disposal plus discretionary funds. The creation of limited companies can be justified in certain areas of public interest where the private sector is not putting its money, such as the establishment of industrial estates like the Sunder estate near Lahore. But once such estates are developed and the objective achieved, the government should ideally disinvest the industrial estate company to stakeholders and withdraw public funds from it.However, the idea has been stretched too far in Punjab where even normal government functions like provision of clean drinking water, upkeep of forests and the disposal of waste and provision of health services have been transferred to these companies. This approach smacks of an effort on the part of the rulers to bypass established rules and regulations, and financial discipline. Huge amounts of money and contracts are involved in each case.

The rules of Public Procurement Regulations Authority do not apply to these companies though they are created and run with public funds; they are also free from the accountant general’s and auditor general’s oversight as their accounts are audited by chartered accountants. All seven waste management companies are annually receiving funds from the province and municipal governments, but are free from official financial discipline. Some of these companies have enacted contracts with Turkish firms on a government-to-government basis. These contracts thave then been sublet to hand-picked local firms without open biddings. The provincial finance department has been forced to provide interest-free loans in the name of bridge financing to some of these contractors working for government-owned limited companies.

Above all, these limited companies have undermined whatever little authority local governments have been vested with under the new local body system. They have snatched different functions of municipal authorities like waste management, provision of clean drinking water, cattle markets and so on. Independent authorities, such as the Lahore Development Authority and its likes are already outside the ambit of municipal governments. The transfer of functions of the civil administration to limited companies on a wide scale implies an expression of no-confidence in the civil service and the normal system of governance. Instead of reforming the civil service and making it efficient and responsive to modern requirements, our rulers have found a shortcut in the form of limited companies to achieve their goals.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23[SUP]rd[/SUP], 2016.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1167817/governance-through-companies/

OP-ED
Short-cut governance
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) needs to step in, seize the records of these entities and conduct an impartial probe into their affairs


Adnan Adil
OCTOBER 31, 2017
Massive irregularities and malfeasance have recently been reported in the 56 government-owned companies of Punjab launched by the Shahbaz Sharif administration during the last nine years. As the accounts and deals of these companies have been kept in secrecy, and violate the statutory requirement of the public audit, the National Accountability Bureau needs to investigate their affairs.


Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, fond of doing things in haste and bypassing rules and regulations, outsourced the civil administration in Punjab and transferred the functions of the provincial government and those of local governments to newly-created limited companies, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan under Article 32 and 42 of the Companies Ordinance of 1984.The transfer of functions of the civil administration to limited companies on a wide scale implied an expression of no-trust in the normal system of governance. Instead of reforming the civil service and making it efficient and responsive to modern requirements, CM Shahbaz Sharif created this short-cut that is also outside the inspection of governmental audit.


The government-owned limited companies include South Punjab Forest Company, Punjab Health Initiative Management Company, Punjab Power Development Company, Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power Limited, Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power (Pvt) Ltd, Quaid-e-Azam Hydel Power (Pvt) Ltd, Punjab Municipal Development Fund Company, and Management Company, Punjab Saaf Pani Company, Lahore Waste Management Company (there are seven such companies in large cities of the province), Punjab Agriculture and Meat Company, Punjab Bio Energy Company Ltd, Punjab Mineral Company, Punjab Land Development Company, Punjab Model Bazaar Company, Punjab Industrial Estates Development Company, Punjab Health Initiative Management Company and so on.


An obvious aim for launching these companies seemed to be bestowing favours on malleable civil servants of the incumbent rulers who helped the Sharifs in bypassing rules and regulations in conducting the business of the state. A clear message was given to the state employees that those will cooperate regardless of legal formalities with the rulers will be rewarded. The pliable officers were hired on splendid salaries, 10-15 times higher than the normal salaries of the civil servants, on key positions in companies with boards of directors stacked with friends and relatives of the ruling party, PML-N. For example, the civil servants serving in energy companies of the Punjab government are receiving Rs1.5-2 million per month salary compared to salaries of around Rs150,000 to 200,000 for grade-21 and grade-22 officers.


Special audits were done for a few companies, such as the Lahore Waste Management Company but they were not made public, which strengthens suspicions of collusion of the rulers in large-scale irregularities and corruption


The legality of a civil servant receiving a higher salary as an executive officer of a limited company is questionable. Under the official rules, a civil servant deputed in a government-owned company is only entitled to a deputation allowance, which amounts to around Rs 6,000 and cannot receive higher emoluments. Some blue-eyed officers of the rulers are simultaneously enjoying perks and privileges of being CEOs of these companies as well as government servants.


The financial rules and regulations that govern the normal government departments do not apply to these companies though they are dealing with public funds worth more than Rs 150 billion. The advocates of government-owned limited companies argue that they help execute tasks on a fast-track basis by cutting the red-tape of bureaucratic approvals, but so far no such company has been able to deliver on its stated goals.


The creation of limited companies can be justified in certain areas of public interest where the private sector is not putting its money, such as the establishment of industrial estates like the Sunder estate near Lahore. However, the Punjab government pulled out of even normal government functions like provision of clean drinking water, upkeep of forests and the disposal of waste and provision of health services have been transferred to these companies. This approach helped the rulers bypass established rules and regulations and financial discipline. Huge amounts of money and contracts are involved in each case.


The rules of Public Procurement Regulations Authority aka PEPRA do not apply to these companies though they are created and run with public funds; they are also free from the accountant general’s and auditor general’s oversight as their accounts are audited by chartered accountants. All seven waste management companies are annually receiving funds from the province and municipal governments, but are free from official financial discipline.


Some of these companies have enacted contracts with Turkish firms on a government-to-government basis without floating tenders and allegedly doled out contracts on up to 50 percent higher rates. Afterwards, these contracts have then been sublet to hand-picked local firms without open biddings. The provincial finance department has been forced to provide interest-free loans in the name of bridge financing to some of these contractors working for the government-owned limited companies such as Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power Company. Furthermore, the Punjab government has given at least Rs 100 billion in loans to these entities.


Lack of transparency is a major issue with all these public companies in Punjab. All the companies have been kept outside the pre-audit scrutiny of the Auditor General’s office though it is a statutory requirement wherever public funds are utilised. Most companies do not get their external and performance audits done.


Special audits were done for a few companies, such as the Lahore Waste Management Company but they were not made public which strengthens suspicions of collusion of the rulers in large-scale irregularities and corruption. Riddled with irregularities in commissioning contracts and other deals, the companies are fearful placing their records online. Those who got their accounts audited by external private auditors have not made the reports public. Irregularities and malfeasance worth Rs 80 billion has recently been reported in these companies.


Importantly, these limited companies have undermined whatever little authority local governments have vested under the new local body system. They have snatched different functions of municipal authorities like waste management, provision of clean drinking water, cattle markets and so on. Independent authorities, such as the Lahore Development Authority and its likes are already outside the ambit of municipal governments.


As a hue and cry has been raised in the media about irregularities in these companies, the Punjab government has established a committee to look into the allegations but like many such past inquiries it is meant to hush up the scam to save the skin of the rulers. The National accountability Bureau (NAB) needs to step in, seize the records of these entities and conduct an impartial probe into their affairs.





The writer is a Lahore-based journalist and works as analyst for Samaa News television


Published in Daily Times, October 31st 2017.

[URL]https://dailytimes.com.pk/132469/short-cut-governance/
[/URL]

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

A question of priorities
By Adnan Adil
June 01, 2017

​

The utilisation statistics of the Punjab development budget tell the same old story of how education and health are neglected for the sake of building roads and buildings.

During the first 10 months of FY 2016-17, the Punjab government utilised only around Rs252.9 billion (57.9 percent) out of a total development outlay of Rs436.6 billion provided in the annual budget. This information is available in official documents of the provincial finance department.


With only two months remaining till the end of the fiscal year, the provincial government did not utilise more than 40 percent of the development outlay allocated for most sectors – with the exception of the roads, transport and buildings sectors.


Till the end of April this year, the provincial finance department released Rs369 billion (85 percent) of the total amount of Rs436.6 billion allocated for development projects in the annual budget. This implies that there was no shortage of funds to provide the allocated amounts to the social sector, including health and education. But the government opted for infrastructural projects instead.


Out of the total allocation for school education, only 43 percent were spent from July 2016 to April 30, 2017 – around Rs20.6 billion out of Rs47.6 billion. Even the released amount for development schemes for school education has not been fully utilised so far. According to insiders, funds for education were, as usual, released towards the end of the year so that they could not be used.


Out of the total allocation for school education, only 43 percent were spent from July 2016 to April 30, 2017 – around Rs20.6 billion out of Rs47.6 billion. Even the released amount for development schemes for school education has not been fully utilised so far. According to insiders, funds for education were, as usual, released towards the end of the year so that they could not be used.


In the energy sector – where the government claims to have made herculean efforts to end power outages – the provincial government has spent only Rs1.7 billion out of a total allocation of Rs7.9 billion (21.5 percent). Officials believe that the funds for these sectors have been diverted to transport projects, including Lahore’s Orange Line Metro Train project.


Water supply and sanitation also remained a low-priority area, with Rs20 billion utilised out of a total allocation of Rs45 billion – less than half of what was promised in the budget. However, we keep hearing a great deal of official propaganda about saaf pani (clean drinking water).
As usual, roads remained the top priority of the Punjab government. Out of a total allocation of Rs77.2 billion, it has already spent Rs66.2 billion (86 percent). Like previous years, expenditure on the development of roads is likely to surpass the original allocation this time around.
For the transport sector, the government has spent almost double the promised budget – Rs13.8 billion as against the allocation of Rs7.3 billion. Similarly, the government has consumed the entire development allocation for the construction of new buildings – Rs10.9 billion out of a total of Rs11.7 billion.
So far, the government has spent only Rs758 million on population welfare schemes as against the original allocation of Rs1.3 billion – nearly 57 percent of the total allocation. The funds for women’s development that have been utilised stand at Rs377 million from the total allocated amount of Rs629 million – nearly 60 percent of the total allocation.
A paltry amount of Rs185 million was allocated for environment-related development projects. But the actual utilisation during these 10 months was nil. This is despite the fact that the environment protection department is short of staff and necessary equipment to monitor pollution. Punjab’s area has less than three percent of tree cover. And yet, forestry is among the most neglected area – out of a meagre allocation of Rs2.2 billion only 919 million were utilised to plant trees.
In the 2016-2017 budget, the government had promised Rs650 million for labour and human resource development. But so far, it has spent Rs242 million – or 37.2 percent – of the total allocated amount.
The government makes tall claims for the welfare of farmers. Statistics speak for themselves. Out of a total allocation of Rs16 billion for the development of agriculture only Rs6.5 billion were utilised.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/207913-A-question-of-priorities

 

[Syed Haider Imam]

Finally my thread is coming to a logical end.

6th October 2018

7th October 2018