The on-going audit of the development and non-development schemes carried out by 44 district governments and 144 tehsil municipal administrations (TMAs) in Punjab during the period of 2001-2008 will be completed by the end of August.
Official sources of Provincial Directorate of Local Funds Audit (PDLFA) told APP here on Tuesday that over 300 employees of the audit department were involved in the audit process. The gigantic task has been divided in two halves. The office of the Auditor General of Pakistan is carrying out audit of district governments while PDLFA is conducting audit of the TMAs.
The audit of 2006-07 and 2007-08 has been completed, but that of the previous years is still under way. By the end of August, a comprehensive report about any irregularities and corruption committed by various district and tehsil governments will be sent to the Punjab Chief Minister.
The sources, avoiding to give details of their findings, said it is a sensitive matter and prior disclosure could create difficulty in fixing responsibility and taking action against the perpetrators.
To make the process foolproof, audit is being done twice by different audit teams comprising competent officials, and reports thus prepared are being rechecked to remove errors of omission and commission, if any.
It may be pointed out that district governments raised a lot of hues and cries on the decision to conduct special audit to check any mal-practices committed by local governments by the Chief Minister Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif.
Punjab government has therefore, directed the audit department to ensure that there is no lacunae in the final reports. In the light of the audit reports, action will be taken against officials involved in irregularities and mal-practices, reports of which have been surfacing from time to time, source added.
There are unofficial reports that district and tehsil nazims have started to switch sides and assure the present government of their full compliance. For the same reason, the development work is being carried out by city governments at a faster pace.