BAHAWALNAGAR: Contrary to the tall claims of the Police Department about spending huge funds to upgrade the police stations across the 36 districts of Punjab, including Bahawalnagar, under the Special Initiative of Police Stations (SIPS), the majority of SHOs in Bahawalnagar have not only complained of meeting all the expenses on the project from their ‘own resources’ (generated from the public) but also pointed out the lack of equipment at several SIPS.

On the other hand, a government contractor claimed to have invested Rs15m in the project (SIPS) from his own pocket on the verbal promise of the police high-ups.

Later, two local MNAs issued Rs20m to the contractor from their discretionary funds but the contractor is yet to receive the amount though the project has almost been completed, Dawn has learnt.

Earlier, during the inauguration ceremony of Maroot SIPS on Oct 2, Regional Police Officer Rai Babar Saeed and former DPO Ali Raza claimed to have upgraded all 22 police stations of Bahawalnagar to SIPS with funds worth millions of rupees issued by the IG Office.

However, police sources say that not a single rupee received from the IG office between August and September was invested in the SIPS. They say that in August, the police administration directed all the SHOs in the district to upgrade their police stations ‘on their own’ while promising to pay them as soon as the funds were released from the IG Office.

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Later, considering the slow pace of work, the police officers were allowed to collect money by ‘hook and crook’ to complete the project in the shortest period of time.

As a result, the SHOs allegedly resorted to arm-twisting the public to get funds for the project. The order of the high-ups was implemented, and almost all the police stations except three were upgraded to SIPS within two months.

During this period, Rs9m was released by the IG Office for the project in two instalments; however, the amount did not reach the SHOs as promised, the sources alleged.

They claimed that the DPO office had neither any information where the Rs9m funds were spent nor did it have any record of how much the SHOs and the government contractor spent on the project. They said the DPO office also had no idea about the quantity and quality of the material used in the completion of the said project, adding that the building department was also unaware of it.

Maroot SIPS SHO Matloob Hussain confirmed to Dawn that they upgraded the police station by using Rs2.5m from ‘own resources’. Additional SHO McLeoad Ganj Javed says that with the coordination of former SHO Rao Farhat, about Rs3m were raised from ‘friends and landlords’.

While sharing the names of the landlords, SHO Dunga Bunga Aslam Faraz also claimed to have completed the project with the help of ‘donors’. The same story was narrated by the majority of the SIPS in-charges, including SHO City Haroonabad Rao Shahid, SHO Dahranwal and Faqirwali Khalid Rauf, and SHO Madrassa Rizwan Abbas.

SHO Division Mehar Abdul Jabbar and SHO Fort Abbas Absar Gujjar said they had completed the project with the help of philanthropists and the department.

Former SHO Dahranwala Zaffar Iqbal, who was suspended over misconduct, and former SHO Minchinabad Majid claimed to have upgraded their police stations by receiving funds in the form of cash and cheques from the finance department of the DPO Office.

However, DPO office Accountant Iqrar Shah negated their statements, saying that the office had never issued any amount to any SHO for the SIPS project. He expressed his ignorance about where Rs9m were spent.

Former SHO Mandi Sadiq Ganj Amir Abbas Shah said three police stations, including his own, were yet to be upgraded.

SHO Bakhshan Khan Javed Joiya said the building department had provided everything to upgrade his police station. An SHO, while requesting anonymity, claimed he had to spend hundreds of thousands of rupees from his own pocket to upgrade his police station because the citizens in his area were not in the mood to pay donations.

Building clerk Mehar Khalil, however, not only rejected SHO Bakhshan Khan’s statement but also claimed that all police stations had been upgraded with the help of ‘the locals’.

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EXEN Building Sheikh Nadeem said they did not check any work related to the SIPS project or construction at the DPO office.

A senior police official, while requesting anonymity, said hundreds of millions of rupees released for the SIPS by the IG office were yet to be utilised on the said project. He said raising funds for the project had given rise to a new type of corruption as illegal concessions were granted to those who had given money or material for the SIPS project.

During this practice, he alleged, most of the police officials ‘earned’ two to three times the total cost of the project. He said the upgraded police stations were also facing problems due to the lack of important IT gadgets like Qmatic machines etc. The official said there should be a transparent inquiry into the SIPS project.

A majority of SHOs told Dawn that the cost of a Qmatic machine was more than Rs2.5m and no donor was willing to buy it nor did they have enough money to buy it themselves. The officials said there were only two Qmatic machines in the district, one at the DPO office while the other at Bahawalnagar City A Division.

Bahawalnagar DPO Naseebullah Khan remained silent in response to calls made to him and texts sent for comments on the matter.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2023