The Public Accounts Committee of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday decided to recover Rs 11.7 million embezzled money from different government departments. The decision was taken during a meeting of the PAC, which met here with MPA Abdul Akbar Khan in the chair.
The meeting was also attended by Saqibullah Khan Chamkani, Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha, Mukhtiar Ali Khan Advocate, and Ziad Akram Durrani. The meeting decided to recover the embezzled or misused Rs 11.7 million from various departments of the government. The PAC expressed concerns over the alleged irregularities of Rs 0.951 million in Directorate of Veterinary Research Institute, Peshawar in purchase of vaccines and asked for special audit and departmental inquiry into the embezzlement.
The PAC also took serious notice of embezzlement of Rs 0.492 million in the same directorate during the year 2005-06 and issued directives for a comprehensive inquiry into the matter by a sub-committee. The meeting was informed that under the head of route permits of Abbottabad, Mardan and Kohat Rs 43,000 were recovered out of the total Rs 0.3 million, whereas efforts were being made to recover the remaining amount. To a query, the members of the PAC were apprised that the government had planned to introduce new routes in order to overcome the growing traffic problems in Peshawar city.
The committee urged upon the Food Department to utilise all its resources for promotion of sugarcane production in the province and expressed the hope that the cultivable lands would be used for the purpose. Secretary Transport Azmat Hanif Orakzai, Secretary Revenue Waqar Ayub and Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Amanullah Khan and other officers also attended the meeting.