The construction work on the Education Complex project which started one and a half years ago is incomplete yet. In fact, it has been stalled for the past seven months as the contractor has abandoned the work owing to what he alleges 'corrupt practices' of an official of the building department.
The project, which started in July 2006, was scheduled to be completed by October this year at an estimated cost of Rs 20 million. However, the contractor relinquished the task in April 2007 when only the ground floor of the proposed triple-storey building had been erected.
The district government and the building department officials are indifferent to the stalemate in the construction work of the otherwise much-awaited building. Kasur was made district around 30 years ago, but the government failed to construct separate buildings to house all education department offices, which are established in classrooms of various local schools at scattered places.
They are far away from each other thus inconveniencing hundreds of teachers visiting the district headquarters daily from various places across the district bordering Sheikhupura and Okara in connection with their service matters. The office of the executive district officer (Education) is established in the hostel of the Government Elementary School.
The officials of the EDO office have occupied all available rooms, leaving no room for students of far-flung areas like Pattoki, Chunian, Khuddian, Illahabad, Phoolnagar and Kot Radha Kishan to lodge and concentrate on their studies. Teachers coming from these localities in connection with their service matters suffer a lot if they have to shuttle to and from one or two offices of the department consecutively, especially woman teachers are the worst sufferers.
An official of the education department told Business Recorder that millions of rupees had been spent on renovating these borrowed buildings due to non-availability of permanent offices.
Under the present dispensation of local governments, about 25 boys and girls schools were handed over to the department. One of these schools located at Luliani Adda was locked because its building had been declared dangerous due to dilapidation. Hashim Tareen, the then district co-ordination officer, chose this building because of its accessible geographical location being in heart of the city, and decided to demolish it and construct an education complex at the site. All offices of the department were to be shifted to the multi-storey building so that all visitors could be entertained under one roof, saving them from the hitches of roaming from pillar to post. The project was assigned to a district government contractor, Ali Raza, and funds worth Rs 10 million were also released during the financial year 2006-07 to initiate the project. Sources said initially the project progressed smoothly rather on a rapid pace, and it was likely that it would meet its deadline. Three out of five members of a monitoring team formed by the EDO (Works), including District Officer (Buildings) Muhammad Munawar Ahmad, DDO Naseem Akhtar and Sub-Engineer Riaz Ahmad, declared the execution of the project on pretty satisfactory lines. However, with the passage of time, the complex project also fell victim to "red-tape", and the sources claimed that funds worth Rs six million lapsed due to a stalemate between the contractor and the DDO concerned, leaving the project in the doldrums. The construction work on the project, however, stalled after disputes emerged between contractor Raza and DDO (Buildings) Tariq Shah on what the contractor claimed 'corrupt practices' of the DDO. Raza alleges that DDO Shah is a corrupt officer and does not approve any file pertaining to any project unless he receives a fixed percentage of the contract amount as gratification. He accused the DDO of demanding his share in the profit cake, and claimed that the project halted because he failed to bargain with the DDO and pay him his chunk. Raza said Shah was a well-connected official holding the "lucrative" post for the past eight years despite several complaints and inquiries pending against him. Similarly, members of the district bar association staged a rally against DDO Shah when around Rs 500,000 reserved to renovate the bar offices lapsed because of the alleged inaction of the DDO. DBA Secretary General Imran Sohail Gujjar told Business Recorder that the DDO anticipated that because of lawyers likely strict monitoring, he would be unable to earn something out of this project in connivance with his favourite lawyers, got their protest registered with the C&W secretary, the EDO (Works) vide letter No 36/DDO/03/2238 on July 28, 2007, to take action against DDO Shah in the light of C&W department's letter No SOB-I(C&W)-2-2/2006 dated July 20, 2007, but to no avail. When contacted, EDO Khalil Abbas Khan said he had no powers to inflict punishment on any delinquent official or order his transfer, as it was prerogative of high-ups of the C&W department. He said he could only recommend taking a disciplinary action against any such official or transferring him. EDO Khan said he had responded to the department's communication against the DDO concerned.
The DDO was also issued a warning by Deputy Secretary (Highways) Younas Aziz Khan vide letter No SO(H)-2(C&W)2-C-I/2007 dated September,18, 2007, regarding sub-standard execution of a road project from Pattoki GT Road to Chak 35 Burj Mahallum. Similarly, union council Nazims and councillors, including Nasimul Hassan Mirza and Sardar Fakhar Ali, have also complained sub-standard execution of development projects in their areas carried out under the supervision of DDO Shah.
The Federation of Punjab Contractors Association president has also expressed his concern over the alleged corrupt practices persistently being committed by the DDO. An official of the buildings department requesting anonymity told Business Recorder that the charge of the education complex project had been withdrawn from DDO Shah after they received directives from C&W high-ups.
He said now the project's charge had been given to Pattoki subdivision DDO. The sources said that the Pattoki DDO sits some 80 kilometres away from the project site, and this factor alone could hamper the pace of the project, which was likely to resume in the near future. DDO Tariq Shah for his version has refused to comment and left his office quietly.