MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi says that corruption of Rs3.5bn was done in the Multan Waste Management Company (MWMC) in which political leadership and high-ranking officers were involved.

Presiding over a meeting to review the performance of various departments of the district here on Sunday, the foreign minister said investigation into the corruption matter would be carried out through the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the names of the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats would be made public.

Mr Qureshi said although the government had provided billions for the cleanliness of the city but 40pc areas of the city could not be cleaned.

“The city waste is being dumped within the limits of the city, which is unfortunate. Not more than 300 tonne garbage is being collected on a monthly basis despite the fact that monthly garbage volume is 9,000 tonne.”

He alleged that the audit of the solid waste company could not be done because the previous government had joined hands with the corrupt.

“We will get the audit of the company conducted and will disclose the names of the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats,” the minister said.

Says PAC would hold probe; audit not done during PML-N tenure

He gave directions for resolving the issues of the company besides arranging the joining of the new managing director of company, saying the provincial government would be requested for special funds for the completion of unfinished schemes of the company.

The development work could not be done in Multan during the tenures of the previous governments and its funds were diverted to Lahore and other cities while creating a sense of deprivation among the people of Multan, he added.

“We will not allow discrimination with Multan as it was done in the past. We will demand special funds from the chief minister for rehabilitation of the infrastructure of Multan and a master plan will be devised for the development of city.”

Mr Qureshi deplored that 35pc area of the city was not linked with the sewerage and that area included newly-established residential areas.

“Hardly a pipeline of 1.4km was laid down during the five-year tenure of the previous government which is the obvious proof of incompetence of the former rulers. No development work is under way in water and sanitation agency despite availability of the funds of hundreds of millions.”

The foreign minister presided over such a meeting only after the transfer of former deputy commissioner Mudassir Riaz Malik on April 22.

According to close circles of Mr Qureshi, he was not happy with the former DC due to various reasons, including the officer’s alleged close ties with the PML-N local leadership. They said the minister was also not happy with the former DC for using the open courts for the land disputes resolution and the matter of recruitments in the MWMC.

The newly-appointed DC Amir Khatak, in his briefing, informed the meeting that monthly recovery of Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) was Rs40m and 42pc consumers were not paying their bills while the defaulters had to pay Rs1.24bn to the agency.

The foreign minister issued directions for upgrade of the sewerage of the city while preparing the lists of the areas deprived of the sewerage facility.

“The entire population of the city should be linked with sewerage by preparing a master plan of Wasa,” he directed the officials.

Mr Qureshi also sought the notification for the constitution of the Zakat committee for the Multan district with the consultation of parliamentarians of the district and distribution of Rs152.9m Zakat amount among the needy persons during Ramazan.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2019