Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was informed that Pakistan Post is making daily transaction of about Rs 4.5 billion without having any proper computerised system.
Government just to benefit National Savings is pushing the Pakistan Post in loss and it has reduced the rate of commission for Pakistan Post from 1.5 percent to 0.5 percent last year, said Secretary Ministry of Postal Services, Raja Ikram-ul-Haq while responding to queries of the Monitoring and Implementation Committee of the PAC.
The Monitoring and Implementation Committee of the PAC met here in Parliament House with Yasmeen Rehman, convenor of the Committee, in the chair and reviewed different audit paras of Ministry of Postal Services and Pakistan Post Office Department.
The committee has deferred mostly all audit paras and directed the Secretary Ministry of Postal Services to reply the PAC with complete details. Yasmeen Rehman while reviewing the audit paras expressed dismay over inefficiency in Postal Services and directed the Secretary Ministry of Postal Services to ensure streamlining the internal audit system and recover the money involved in different scams in Pakistan Post Office Department.
Departments are making delaying tactics in implementing the directives of the PAC and if this trend was not changed the PAC will take the Principal Accounts Officer responsible, Yasmeen Rehman said. She also directed the audit Authorities to co-operate with other departments to ensure the smooth audit.
Secretary Ministry of Postal Services informed the Committee that the decline in commission rate has deprived the Pakistan Post from Rs 2 billion profit and for the first time during the last 60 years it showed loss. "We are running short of resources even after earning huge profit for national exchequer and working with strength of 47,000 employees for the last two and a half decades and were not allowed to induct new people in service," Ikram-ul-Haq informed the Committee.
Secretary Postal Services, Ikram-ul-Haq, who is known as an honest and hardworking bureaucrat, accepted the burden of inefficiency in his department saying that he took charge just two months back and assured the Committee that within a month or two he will streamline the system and bring all looted money back.
He said that there are many problems, which are finance related and if Government will not provide sufficient funds the system will not be streamlined. "We have over 83 General Post Offices (GPOs) and 567 Post Offices (POs) operating round the country and only GPOs have computer facility, but there is no connectivity between them," he maintained.
He said that Pakistan Post is doing daily transaction of Rs 4.5 billion and handling over 7.3 million pensioners and BISP beneficiaries, but there is no tracking system for its checking. The record of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) was computerised and it is being checked regularly.
He said that Pakistan Post has so far distributed over Rs 64 billion of BISP and the efficacy in distribution of funds of BISP was observed as 98 per cent. There is pressure from political parties as some leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party in Sindh have directed the postmen to distribute money orders at their houses, he added.
Responding to a question from Yasmeen Rehman regarding the embezzlement of Rs 40 million last year, the Secretary revealed that there were incidents, but it was not in BISP. The Committee was informed that Pakistan Post has sent a project proposal of Rs 548 million to Ministry of Finance for computerisation and connectivity of post offices, but it is still pending.
The Committee was also informed that the mushroom growth of courier companies has caused huge loss to national exchequer, besides they have challenged the monopoly of Federal Government. There should be a regulatory body to check the mushroom growth of the courier companies and bring them under the purview of law.
Raja Ikram-ul-Haq informed the Monitoring and Implementation Committee of the PAC that his Ministry is paying over Rs 400 million to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) as service charges, while Rs 30 million is being paid to Pakistan Railways. He apprised of the Committee that Pakistan Post is improving its road connectivity so that people get there mail in time. The Committee reviewed the audit paras of the Ministry and deferred the paras over lack of proper action and recovery of the money from people who embezzled and caused dent to national exchequer.