KOHAT: Opposition leader in the Kohat tehsil council, Abdur Rehman , has criticised the treasury benches, including the nazim, for their poor performance and demanded formation of a special committee to probe into corruption in the civic body by the officials and members.

He said that so far the opposition had been asking the nazim to stop corrupt practices and expel the ghost employees whose salary was unaccounted for, but now he should take it as final warning and after that they would go to the NAB and anti-corruption department.

Speaking at the council session here the other day, the opposition leader disclosed that when asked about the Water Supply and Sanitation Company (WSSC) tehsil nazim Maslik Taimoor told the house that it had signed an agreement with the provincial government.

Showing copy of the agreement, he said that it had the signatures of tehsil municipal officer and the nazim where it had been accepted that there would be no audit of its accounts. He asked whether the nazim had taken the house into confidence before entering such an agreement with WSSC which received Rs30 million in two years. He also pointed out that according to the agreement the WSSC was responsible for cleanliness of the whole district, but it was doing work in urban areas only.

Abdur Rehman said that there were Rs10 million to Rs150 million outstanding against the plazas and markets owned by the body, but the nazim was not serious in recovery of the money. He said that the useless staff was a burden on the body and those people who did not come for work should be terminated.

The opposition leader said that there were over 3,000 handcarts in the city from which officials were allegedly taking bribe of Rs300 per day, but did not deposit a penny in the TMA accounts. He demanded that the handcarts should be moved to the open space in front of the police lines and tax should be collected on proper receipt.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2019