HYDERABAD, Nov 13: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan has said that corruption in society is a reality and for that reason the government has launched institutional reforms to address the issue of governance.

He said that a package of reforms included privatisation of organisations, deregulation, decentralisation and infrastructural development.

He said that with gradual institutionalisation and revamping of the system, corruption would be eradicated.

Speaking as chief guest at seminar on “corruption at the grassroots level: impacts and solution” here on Monday, he said that the basic question was how to control corruption and to set direction.

The seminar was organised by the district government in collaboration with the NAB Sindh.

The governor said that various factors were responsible for corruption and there was no need to be pessimist.

“Institutional reforms are certainly a big challenge for the government and being addressed accordingly, its impact will be seen gradually,” said Ibad.

He said that no-one could turn things around overnight and it obviously required time to bring about changes.

“Finding honest people often becomes a big problem even for the government,” he said.

He said that the government was paying attention to land record’s computerisation which was being verified. So is the case with the education sector where complete data of schools has been obtained regarding teachers and schools.

Describing the media as an important component for accountability, he said that it enjoyed unprecedented freedom which was not even witnessed in UK and added that it was the media which gave a platform to people to hold accountability of the government.

He said that accountability process was also linked with the judiciary which had adopted measures to ensure provision of justice to people.

He said that the country did not get that status which it should have attained several decades back but even then everything was not lost because the government had developed a soft image of the country abroad and great financial activity was being witnessed within Pakistan.

“We are trying to ensure sustainability in government”, said the governor while quoting a phrase that an optimist sees opportunity in every danger while a pessimist sees danger in every opportunity.

He said that Pakistan had produced top brains in every field, who had proved their mettle abroad in the fields of medicine, engineering and information technology.

District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil said the institutions that were supposed to eradicate corruption had been hit by the menace and proposed that the NAB should set up its district level organisation also.

He said that such type of seminars would help highlight the issue.

NAB Sindh Director Brig Arif Masood Khan said that NAB offices would be set up at the district level in coordination with district governments as his organisation was committed to root out corruption.

He said that re-organisation in the NAB was being worked out which would lead to more improvement.

He said that the NAB Sindh filed 241 references till 2005, of them 125 were decided and in 85 references accused were convicted while at present 116 cases pending hearing and Rs26 billion the same year.

Lauding the role of the district government in NAB’s campaign for awareness among people against corruption, the official said the NAB had worked hard to get money returned to investors of different housing schemes and added that it also tried to ensure accountability process transparent.

Journalist Ali Hassan, senior member Board of Revenue Syed Anwar Hyder, Sindh Abadgar Board president Abdul Majeed Nizamani, Prof Syed Qavi Ahmed, MPA Aslam Pervez, Ghulam Rabbani Agro, Maj (retd) Umer Farooq and Dr Hadi Bux Jatoi also spoke on the occasion.