MULTAN, July 12: The estimated cost of the Bahauddin Zakariya University's convocation hall has exceeded Rs60 million with the additional allocation of Rs20 million during the current fiscal.

The project was launched in September 2001 at an estimated cost of Rs41.562 million. According to documents, the hall had to be built within two years after the laying of the foundation stone by the BZU chancellor and Punjab governor Khalid Maqbool.

But even after the passage of almost 34 months, the hall is yet to be built and only preliminary structure has been raised. In fact, the construction halted in March 2002 after the allegations of malpractices and substandard work.

The allegations were levelled in black and white in January 2002 by firm's ex-employee Engrr Rana Muhammad Arshad Naeem. The complainant pointed out that the construction of the hall was not according to its original specifications. He alleged use of substandard and insufficient building material, and inappropriate payment of bills (by the university authorities).

Sources in the university said the authorities concerned did not take note of the complaint in the first instance. However, the complaint was referred to the deans' committee when the complainant again submitted his application in February. He also sent its copies to the Punjab governor and the National Accountability Bureau chairman.

The deans' committee constituted a preliminary inquiry body comprising architect Anwar Ali, provincial chief engineer Altaf Husain Shaheedi and BZU faculty of engineering and technology dean, Prof Dr Akhtar Malik, to look into the matter.

The work on the hall had to be stopped in the light of the PIC report. Furthermore, the vice-chancellor of the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, was requested to constitute a committee of building experts, perhaps to ascertain veracity of the allegations.

The UET VC constituted a technical committee comprising his faculty members - Prof Faiz Ahmad Chishti, Prof Ziauddin Mian and Dr Aziz Akbar. The technical committee paid visits to the site and took samples of the material used in the construction to test those at the university's sophisticated laboratories.

In its report, the UET committee endorsed the allegations about the use of substandard material for laying the foundations of the hall. It also recommended that further construction should not be carried out on the site without taking some remedial measures to correct flaws in the basic structure.

Upon this, the BZU syndicate at its meeting on July 21, 2001, constituted a high-powered inquiry committee comprising Prof Dr Muhammad Ashraf Chaudhry, Prof Dr Nazir Ahmad Mir and Prof Dr Saeed Iqbal to scrutinize the conduct of the contractor and the university's engineering wing.

The inquiry committee charge-sheeted project director Mian Aziz Ahmad, Engrr Aftab Sahu and assistant engineer Mian Allah Bakhsh. Later, it recommended dismissal of all the three engineering branch officials on Feb 4, 2003, after declaring their replies unsatisfactory. All the three officials found guilty of negligence were fired.

The inquiry committee observed that the substandard work had caused a loss of Rs11.93 million to the university, saying the amount should be recovered from the contractor after instituting a criminal case against him. The committee also recommended that the contractor should be blacklisted.

The committee also pointed out some financial irregularities by the university's management, which generously gave the contractor amounts as a secured advance for the procurement of gadgets. These were otherwise needed to be installed after the completion of the whole building.

To look into financial irregularities, the committee had recommended a separate inquiry. Sources said the authorities at the helm had yet to institute an inquiry and they had awarded the suspect another electrification contract worth Rs4 million instead of blacklisting him. The second contract, they said, was now also being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Establishment.

At the syndicate meeting held on April 18 last, the university authorities proposed that the convocation hall contractor be allowed to resume work on the project if he submitted a bank surety. However, a majority of the syndicate members opposed the move and asked the university management to get a case registered against the contractor.

In a 'smart' move, the university management referred the case to the area police station instead of sending it to the ACE, which has engineering experts to investigate such cases. Consequently, there has been no recovery from the contractor so far. However, the university authorities have allocated additional funds for the project to the tune of Rs20 million in the budget for 2004-05.