LAHORE: Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) Chairman Malik Amjad Ali Noon has resigned from his post for refusing "to be a part of corruption, treachery and conspiracies of the corrupt mafia".
"In the near future, he is foreseeing corruption, dishonesty, conspiracies and filth in the organization of which I do not want to be a part. The corrupt mafia is eager to dole out worth Rs 110 billion contract and come up with new plans of corruption every day. This mafia wants to make the company a ferment of corruption, which was not possible in my presence," he said in a statement issued here on Saturday.
The chairman further said that he thwarted all these corrupt intentions, but when there are disputes between the higher authorities, which are on the part of the CM Secretariat and Punjab Industries, Commerce and Investment Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal, it is better for the chairman to resign.
According to him, in September 2020, the Punjab chief minister entrusted him to take over as the chairman of the LWMC with the primary responsibility of resuscitating a failing company. The foreign subcontractors were holding the entire city's cleanliness functions hostage. At their hands, waste management in the city had been in continuous decline. Along with the Managing Director and Board of Directors, they worked very hard to institute order within the company and by extension, within Lahore.
However, he claimed, by passing all processes of meritocracy and transparency, the minister has been empowered to oversee procedures within the organization to "design cost-effective solutions with a road map/strategy for future plans." "Rather than add value to the operations of the company, he has exercised influence to obstruct and thwart the workings of the LWMC. I am sure that the contracts to be awarded shortly will also lack the transparency that is necessary for the LWMC to continue functioning as a strong and independent organization," he added.
"When the CM asked me to take over this company, I worked in an honorary capacity, keeping the goals of the city and the country as my main objective. I have worked to revive a failing organization, chartered a plan for execution, addressed, mitigated and corrected institutional financial malpractices, delivered a closure on contracts with Turkish companies, retained the organization's assets and machinery, and made interim functioning arrangements until there is a finalization of new contracts," he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021