PPD spends Rs 50 million on rehabilitation of Muree Post Office

Pakistan Post Department (PPD) has spent Rs 50 million on restoration/rehabilitation of Muree Post Office while amount of Rs 20 million was paid to daily-wages employees without following codal formalities. This was revealed in the meeting of National Assembly Standing Committee on Communication which met with Muhammad Muzammil Qureshi in the chair here on Tuesday to discuss the latest report of auditor general about corruption, fraud and misappropriation during the last five years in Pakistan Postal Services and illegal occupation/ encroachment on Pakistan Postal Service land/property.
The committee expressed serious concerns while saying why such a huge amount of Rs 50 million has been spent on restoration of Murree Post Office. The committee observed that there is no mechanism in Pakistan Post to reconcile its accounts. The committee directed that Pakistan Post Department should develop a mechanism, like clearing house of State Bank of Pakistan, to settle the accounts of different GPOs.
The committee was further informed that 251 properties, ie 6 percent of Pakistan Post, have been encroached upon or illegally occupied. The department has 4,172 properties, including 90 administrative offices, 714 operational offices, 3,252 residences, 67 other buildings and 49 plots and of them 251 have been illegally occupied. The committee was informed that PPOD does not have any budget to hire services of a lawyer. So, PPOD has to depend upon the lawyer being provided by Law Division. The committee took very serious notice of the encroachments on the properties of the Pakistan Post Office.
The committee was further informed that Rs 20 million were paid to daily-wages employees from the unrelated budget, while a robbery of amount of Rs 20 million was also reported. The officials further revealed that irregularities of Rs 47 million were also reported in military pension and for a duplicate PPO; the concerned army centres have been contacted.
The committee decided to discuss the performance of the Postal Life Insurance in the next meeting.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Chaudhry Khalid Javaid Warraich, Maiza Hameed, Dr Darshan, Najaf Abbas Sial, Nazir Ahmed Bughio, Ramesh Lal, Salim Rehman, Engr Hamid-ul-Haq Khalil, Sahibzada Tariq Ullah, Engr Usman Khan Taraki and Shahjehan Muneer Mangrio. Moreover, additional secretary communication, post master general Peshawar, post master general Lahore and other senior civil officers also attended the meeting.