KOHAT: Irregularities were detected in construction of Bacha Khan Library and Kohat Press Club buildings, completed during the previous provincial government, according to sources.

District Nazim Maulana Niaz Mohammad in a press statement demanded of the government to take notice of the corruption in the two projects. He also demanded of the government to take to task the incumbent and previous lawmakers from the district as they failed to take notice of the public complaints regarding irregularities in the projects.

A senior official of the tehsil municipal administration, requesting anonymity, said that Bacha Khan Library was constructed with a huge cost of Rs260 million and Rs13 million were spent on the new building of the press club.

Munawar Orakzai, the president of the press club, said that soon after completion of the building, journalists were surprised to see that the water pipes were choked and seepage had damaged the building. He said that electricity was provided to the press club through illegal connection by the contractor.

Irregularities detected in construction of library and press club buildings

Sources said that similar was the case of the library project, which did not look like it could have cost Rs260 million.

The secretary general of Anjuman-i-Tarriqae Urdu, Shahid Zaman, told this scribe that even a blind person could feel the hanging windows, broken doors, seeping roofs of the library, which spoke for the substandard material used in it. He said that nobody was ready to repair the building and preserve the books.

The district government, political and social circles demanded of the government to order probe into the two projects through the Ehtesab Commission and award exemplary punishment to the people involved in corruption.

NAZIM: District Nazim Maulana Niaz Mohammad has said that the district government would follow the policy and guidelines of the provincial government and treat all members of the district council equally.

Addressing the first session of the district council here on Monday, he said that all hurdles would be removed to provide all necessities of life to people at their doorsteps.

The session was attended by Commissioner Musarat Hussain, Deputy Commissioner Zahir Momand, DPO Mohammad Sohaeb Ashraf, Kohat tehsil nazim Malik Taimoor, Lachi tehsil nazim Ishtiaq Qureshi, district and tehsil councillors and heads of the government departments.

The commissioner in his speech said that nazims and councillors should clearly read the Local Government Act of 2013 for the powers vested in the local government, which also clearly mentioned their responsibilities.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2015

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