WASA start action against ‘bad guys’

LDA, WASA start action against ‘bad guys’
THE LAHORE TIMES
By STAFF REPORTER
Published: August 24, 2012
LAHORE: The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) have started action against their ‘bad guys’ after receiving serious complaints from the citizens against them.
On Thursday, LDA Director (Administration) Khalid Pervaiz dismissed a patwari after he was proved guilty of taking bribe in a departmental inquiry, while WASA Managing Director Mian Muhammad Abdullah has taken action against a director, three XENs, three SDOs and three sub-engineers.
Patwari Amir Hussain was dismissed after it was proved that he was guilty of taking bribe from a citizen of Gulberg area. He was proceeded against under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act 2006 on account of demanding Rs 600,000 for issuance of a non-objection certificate (NOC) regarding a house from a resident, Syed Muhammad Ali. Dramatically, he was caught red-handed by Anti-Corruption Establishment while receiving Rs 50,000 as token from the complainant. After allegations levelled against him were proved in the departmental inquiry, the director issued orders for his dismissal from service.
On the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif that action be taken against corrupt and incompetent officials, the WASA managing director visited all the disposal and lift stations and took action against the officials concerned for poor performance during rains in the city.
The managing director issued suspension orders of Data Gunj Baksh Town XEN Rana Ghulam Mujtaba, Ravi Town SDO Shaukat Ali and Sub-Engineer Kashif due to poor condition at a disposal station. He also visited another disposal station and suspended the Sub-Engineer Chaudhry Shafique while issued show-cause notice to SDO Chaudhry Shafiq. He called an explanation from the XEN and the director for poor management and performance.
During his visit to Ek Moriya Lift Station, Mian Abdullah was surprised to see poor civic amenities and immediately issued a charge sheet to XEN Sarfaraz Shah, SDO Imtiaz Goraya and Sub-Engineer Irfan.
He also warned the officials that they should show their best performance during the season of rains and should not give a chance to people to lodge complaints against them. He told them to resolve the sewerage problems during or after rains.
Report contributed by Kashif Hussain

WASA Arrested officers to be produced in court today

Lahore: Arrested Wasa officers to be produced in court today
NAJAM JULY 15, 2008 0
LAHORE: Nine Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) officers booked on Sunday night for ‘causing inconvenience to public’ have also been charged with ‘misappropriation of funds’.
Sections 431 and 290 of PPC (causing inconvenience to public) do not fall under the cognizable offence category but section 409 of PPC (misappropriation of funds) is cognizable.
“Though police are also authorized to arrest an accused charged with misappropriation of funds, primarily the Anti-Corruption Establishment handles such cases,” eminent jurist Abid Hasan Manto told Dawn.
He maintained that the offence – causing inconvenience to public (sections 431 and 290) – was not enough to arrest senior officers of the government. However, the offence under section 409 was cognizable and the police could lodge an FIR against the accused even before holding an inquiry, he said.
He recalled that during the previous government of Nawaz Sharif the issue of arresting the government officers just under sections 431 and 290 had also surfaced.
SSP Shafiq Ahmed did not confirm the arrest of all the nominated officers – a deputy managing director, a director, two Xens, a sub-engineer and four SDOs – but a source said that most of them had been taken into custody while the remaining would be behind the bars by Tuesday (today) morning. The SSP said the accused would be produced before the court on Tuesday. He said that a deputy managing director of Wasa was the complainant in the case.
The source further said that the officers in question had been booked for their failure in clearing water from the Gulberg roads, especially Liberty.
A colleague of the arrested officers lamented the action. “When this government itself says that it has ‘no magic wand’ to change the system overnight, how can it expect the same from the officers of a department”
He said since the drainage system was old and faulty, the arrests were unfair. “The chief minister has no idea how much humiliation they (the officers) are facing for no fault of theirs. Such steps can only make headlines but on the ground they will not pay off,” he said and suggested that the chief minister must keep ‘ground realities’ in mind before ‘terrorizing’ the provincial bureaucracy.
On the other hand, Wasa Vice-Chairman (MNA) Bilal Yasin was of the view that the officers who could not provide facilities to people should better meet this fate. He parried a question about the addition of section 409.
Pervaiz Rashid, chief minister’s adviser, said that millions of rupees had been given to Wasa officers in question to improve the drainage system but they did not perform their duties honestly that caused a lot of inconvenience to the public. He maintained that the officers had been arrested as they had misappropriated huge funds.

WASA Officers Corruption

Corruption puts Wasa on verge of collapse
THE NATION
December 07, 2010 Khalid Malik 0
TRENDING DISCUSSIONS
LAHO RE - Water and Sanitation Agency, which was once the richest departments of CDGL, is at the verge of collapse due to poor planning, corruption, mismanagement and misuse of funds, sources informed TheNation. While giving details, the sources further informed that Wasa was generating notable revenue from water supply and sewerage system as compare to the other organisations and departments of City District Government Lahore and was considered an exemplary department because it was the richest among all of them. The employees of Wasa were also considered highly paid staffers as compare to the officials of other departments of the CDGL. They were also given maximum compensation in case of any mishap and also given annual bonuses on the occasion of religious festivals in general and during the rainy seasons in particular. Further, the organisation was equipped with most modern and sophisticated machinery and essential tools including vehicles for transportation of the sanitary staff, mud sucker machines and water bowsers. Officials of the department were also well-equipped with security tools including safety masks, special safety dresses and other hand carrying tools for sewerage cleaning operation. In short, the department was growing rapidly than other departments just a decade ago, they added. But unfortunately during the last decade, corruption and mismanagement replaced the honesty and dedication by the officials. They said that the officials from higher hierarchy to bottom started minting money by different means and got involved in corruption and misappropriations, which ultimately caused huge financial loss to the department. Due to mismanagement, the department failed to deposit electricity bills of Wapda for the last couple of months and was declared defaulter, they added. Initially, the revenue section of Wasa started declining because the officials of such an important section were minting money from the water consumers and were not forcing them to deposit bills and their outstanding dues. They said that the revenue, collected from water consumers, was a major source of income of the department. They further commented that the drivers of the departments vehicles were also damaging the department by stealing fuel in connivance with the officers concerned. Further, the tube-well operators also got involved in fuel theft of the electricity generators, installed on not less than 150 tube-wells which also caused big financial loss to the department, they added. Luxurious lifestyle of the department officers, misuse of funds, allocated for development projects and allocation of funds for unproductive projects were also caused irreparable financial loss to the department, they said. Embezzlement in funds, allocated by the provincial government and misappropriation in the funds provided by Japanese government for cleaning sewerage and drain system of the city and for various other projects, also caused loss to the department. They also suggested the government to conduct audit of the accounts of the department with proper investigation. However, Wasa now prepared a six-year business plan with the help and consultancy of international organisation of Japan, Jica, for re-organisation, self reliance and restoration of the department by decreasing non-productive and controlling non-developing expenditures up to 10 percent annually.

WASA Corruption Re-employment

Wasa fails to listen to supreme verdict
THE NATION
December 30, 2011 Our Staff Reporter 0
 LAHORE - It seems that Supreme Court’s verdict against re-employment of government employees after their retirement, has not yet reached the Water and Sanitation Agency, whose big bosses are all set to re-employ one of their favourite directors in BS-19, who is going to retire on December 30, 2011 (today).
TRENDING DISCUSSIONS
It has been leant that WASA Managing Director Lahore has prepared a summary (a copy of which is available with TheNation) for LDA Chairman (Lahore DCO) for re-employment of Ch Abdul Hameed, Director, UD Wing of the LDA and currently working as DMD (FA&R) in WASA. “The retirement of Ch Abdul Hameed is a great loss for WASA who has made marked improvement in functions of the agency, and he should therefore be re-employed on contract basis as Director Training (BS-19) and allowed to work as DMD (FA&R), WASA,” says the recommendatory note written in the working paper by MD WASA.
It may be noted here that Supreme Court had ruled in its judgement early this year that government servants retired upon reaching the age of superannuation cannot be re-employed in the public sector. Following this judgment, the Punjab government had to remove seven officers re-employed by it. They included: Secretary Prosecution Secretary Rana Maqbool, Chief Minister’s Inspection Team Chairman General (r) Ziauddin Butt, Anti-Corruption Establishment DG, Kazim Ali Malik, PCBC and Privatisation Board Chairman Nazar Muhammad Chohan, Press Secretary to the CM, Shoaib Bin Aziz and Civil Defence Chief Col (r) Ehsanullah. Of these, Shoaib Bin Aziz is back in the saddle.
The WASA MD has further written that not only the officer (Ch Abdul Hameed) has made the recovery of 140 million beyond the fixed target in the budget of 2010-2011 but also helped in the better image of building of the agency with regard to delivery of services to the consumers. Whereas, in actual terms, it was the performance of Director (Revenue) and the Deputy Director which had been credited to Mr Hameed to make a strong case for his re-employment. The MD has also quoted a precedent of an earlier re-employment of Mr Tanvir Ahmad as Director Training, WASA, LDA and who was allowed to work as DMD after seeking approval of the then Chairman. The competent authority (Chairman, LADA) has been told that he could do so under section-11 of LDA Act 1975 which reads: “The Authority may appoint such officers, advisors, experts, consultants, and employees, as it considers necessary for the efficient performance of its functions on such terms and conditions as it may deem fit”. It is noteworthy that the word “re-employment” has not been used in the above quoted rules.
If the said officer is re-employed, promotion prospects of his juniors would become bleak who will get retired on present posts. When contacted for version, both MD WASA and LDA Chairman (DCO Lahore) were not available on their cell phones.

WASA corruption allama iqbal road-1

Wasa ‘corruption’ delays Allama Iqbal Road project
THE NEWS
Sajid Bashir
Thursday, January 19, 2012
From Print Edition
 New  0  0  0
THE Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has failed to complete Allama Iqbal Road sewerage project due to inability and corruption of its officials, The News has learnt.
The project worth Rs 550 million was initiated by Wasa in June 2011, with the financial support of the provincial government for installation of main sewer lines (46 inch) from Dharampura Bridge to Garhi Shahu Bridge.
The City District Government (CDG) had given three months deadline to Wasa to complete the project but its officials failed to complete the same.
The slow-paced construction work on the said road is not only causing frequent traffic jams but also becomes a permanent source of public nuisance particularly for the business community.
There are a number of banks, educational institutions, food outlets and other commercial businesses there but dug up roads for past six months have ruined their business.
Majority of the shopkeepers at Allama Iqbal Road said the CDGL was responsible for their business losses, which were being gradually increasing by the day due delay in completing the project.
They said they were already facing immense problems for running their businesses due to frequent loadshedding and other circumstances of the country. They said delay in this project had worsened the situation for them.
Sources in Wasa told The News the project could have been completed in time but the corruption of the Wasa officials was the basic reason behind its delay. They added Wasa laid about 8,200 feet pipelines on Allama Iqbal Road from railway station to Jamia Naeemia, Chowk Garhi Shahu and from Chowk Crown Cinema to Mayo Garden and Wasa officials instead of using the standard and specific materials for this only used sludge material in covering the pipelines.
They said that four Wasa officials including DMD Iqtidar Shah, Director Tariq Muhammad, XEN Ishtiaq Tirmizi and SDO Garhi Shahu had been suspended by an inquiry committee, which initiated a probe soon after a resident of the locality complained about embezzlement by the Wasa officials.
The sources further added that the construction of roadside drains have not been completed so far by Wasa and to hide their inefficiency, Wasa had extended this project from Garhi Shahu Bridge to Muhammad Nagar.
DCO Lahore Ahad Cheema could have taken action against Wasa for the delay in this project but he instead of taking action approved the extension and granted Rs 5.5 million more budget to the authority.
Talking to this scribe, a senior officer of Works and Communication Department of CDGL held Wasa was responsible for delay in construction of the road. He said the works department would start construction of the road after receiving a green signal from Wasa regarding completion of work.
Talking to The News, MD WASA Dr Javed Iqbal said that government awarded such projects to Wasa during monsoon and factually the target was being achieved by the officials within the given timeframe if the days of rainy season were excluded.
He said that Wasa had done almost 90 per cent work and further work would be completed soon. Javed Iqbal said that the CDGL had extended the sewer installation work from Garhi Shahu to Muhammad Nagar, which also disturbed the actual timeline of the project. DCO Lahore Ahad Cheema was contacted many times by this correspondent on his cell number but he was not available.

WASA Corruption allama iqbal road

Missing deadlines: WASA MD suspended over road delay
EXPRESS TRIBUNE
By Rameez KhanPublished: June 25, 2012
   Share this articlePrint this page Email

Work on the 2.93 km road started in June 2011 at an estimated cost of Rs550 million, later revised to Rs593 million.
LAHORE: A fourth senior officer became a casualty of the Allama Iqbal Road construction delay when Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif issued orders to suspend WASA Managing Director Javed Iqbal visiting the site on Sunday morning.
Work on the 2.93 km road started in June 2011 at an estimated cost of Rs550 million, later revised to Rs593 million. WASA was given three months to lay a new 48-inch diameter drain and construct a Rs143 million disposal station.
WASA was unable to complete the work on time and an inquiry was ordered against four officers. Three were terminated and one given a reduced term in service.
Naveed Pervaiz, the Operation and Management deputy managing director, told The Express Tribune that the disposal station was still not operational when the CM visited it on Sunday. “It is going to delay the inauguration of the road which the CM had set for June 25,” he said. “That was why the CM suspended the WASA MD.”
He said that the delay was caused by a land dispute regarding the disposal station site with Pakistan Railways that continued from November 2011 to April 2012 when a new site near the Bird Market was acquired for Rs3.8 million.
The drain, due to be built from Mohammad Nagar to Mayo Gardens, was then extended to the site.
He said that the disposal station construction, scheduled to take three months, was completed on time but it would take a few more days to make it operational.
Waqar Ahmad Goraya, district officer for roads 3, said that the CM had set a new deadline of July 15 which they expected to meet. He said that they could not be blamed for the delay since road construction could only start after WASA completed its job.
WASA officials said that another reason for the chief minister’s unhappiness was that he had ordered that 38 tubewells be installed in the city, but only 15 had been installed. They said that there were also allegations of corruption in the installation of a tubewell at Karim Park.
Published in The Express Tribune, 25th, 2012.

WASA Corruption Inspector arrested

Inspector WASA arrested red handed while taking bribe.
LAHORE, September 09, 2011 (Frontier Star): Anti-Corruption Establishment has arrested Inspector WASA Lahore red handed while taking bribe for sanctioning water connection to a consumer. ACE has registered a case against the accused and sent him jail on judicial remand. According to handout issued here on Thursday, Farrukh Dar, a resident of Garhi Shahu, lodged a complaint to Director Anti-Corruption Lahore Region Zulfiqar Ghumman, that Inspector WASA, Halqa Dharam Pura, Muhammad Hafeez had already received Rs. 8 thousand as gratification to sanction water connection. Now he is demanding more amounts for the said purpose. Director ACE Lahore Region directed to arrest the Inspector WASA red handed. Circle Officer ACE Headquarters Atif Tarar, following the directions of Director ACE, conducted a trap raid under the supervision of Magistrate Muhammad Ashraf and arrested Inspector WASA Muhammad Hafeez red handed while taking bribe from the complaint, Farrukh Dar. The raiding party, after recovering the amount of bribe has registered a case against Inspector WASA Muhammad Hafeez and sent him jail on judicial remand.

لاہور: واساشالےمار ٹاﺅن مےںاندھےر نگری، کمرشل کنکشنز کو گھرےلو بنادےا گےا

لاہور: واساشالےمار ٹاﺅن مےںاندھےر نگری، کمرشل کنکشنز کو گھرےلو بنادےا گےا

آصف مقبول اور رفیق بٹ نے 49کمرشل کنکشنز میں ہیراپھیری کرکے بغےر دستاوےزات اور کم رقبہ ظاہر کر کے پاس کر دےا گےا، رےونےو کو نا قابل تلافی نقصان

 رفےق بٹ رےکوری انسپکٹر کے ”لےول“ کاکام کرنے لگا جبکہ رےکوری انسپکٹر سے رےڈنگ کروانے لگا، بوگس رےڈنگ کرکے لاکھوں منتھلی اکٹھی کی جانے لگی

لاہور( ) صوبائی دارالحکومت میں واسا کے اعلیٰ افسران کی ناک کے نیچے کرپٹ افسران و ملازمین نے اندھیر نگری مچا دی۔ ایل ڈی اے واسا کے افسران و ملازمین کی کرپشن کے باعث سفید ہاتھی بن گیا۔ بتایا گیا ہے کہ واسا کے بعض کرپٹ ملازمین کی ملی بھگت سے بڑی بڑی کمرشل پراپرٹیز اور فیکٹریاں جن میں شامل 49عدد کمرشل کنکنشنز جن کو بغیر دستاویزات اور کم رقبہ ظاہر کرکے پاس کردیا گیا ہے ۔ جو واسا کے ریونیو کی مد میں ناقابل تلافی نقصان پہنچانے کا انکشاف ہوا ہے ۔ ذرائع کا کہنا ہے کہ ان کمرشل کنکشنز میں ہیراپھیری کرنے والے سرگرم ملازمین میں آصف مقبول اور رفیق بٹ وغیر ہ شامل ہیں ۔رفیق بٹ جو واسا میں بطور اسسٹنٹ فیلڈ انسپکٹر بھرتی ہوا تھا اب سب فیلڈ انسپکٹر کے طورپر کام کررہا ہے ۔ شالیمار ٹاﺅن ریونیو آفس میں جتنے بھی گریڈ2کے فٹر ملازمین ہیں ان کو رفیق بٹ نے من پسند اور پرکشش (وارڈ) الاٹ کروادیئے ہیں۔ رفیق بٹ خود ریکوری فیلڈ انسپکٹر ”لیول“ کا کا م کرتا ہے ۔ بابامنظور ”RFI“ ہے اس سے میٹر ریڈنگ کرواتا ہے جو اس کا کارخاص بتایا جاتا ہے اور بڑی بڑی کمرشل پراپرٹیز جن میں فیکٹریاں وغیرہ بھی شامل ہیں کی بڑے پیمانے پر بوگس ریڈنگ کرکے لاکھوں روپے کی منتھلیاں صارفین سے لگوارکھی ہیں۔مثال کے طور پر49عدد کمرشل پانی کے کنکشنز کیس جو بوگس طریقے سے جعلی کاغذات پر جاری ہوئے ہیں ان کی تفصیل یہ ہے۔ سیریل نمبر1اکاﺅنٹ نمبر 57281298وارڈ نمبر4کا رقبہ پانی کے بل پر 2مرلے درج ہے جبکہ یہاں پر رقبہ زیادہ ہے اسی طرح اکاﺅنٹ نمبر57299769کا رقبہ صرف1مرلہ ، اکاﺅنٹ نمبر57294458رقبہ ایک مرلہ، اکاﺅنٹ نمبر57296258رقبہ 3مرلہ اور 57292625کا رقبہ 5 مرلہ ہے ۔ جبکہ موقع پر مالکان کی پراپرٹی کا رقبہ زیادہ ہے ۔ علاوہ ازیں اکاﺅنٹ نمبر27282840کا رقبہ 4 مرلہ، اکاﺅنٹ نمبر 57289081، 57284965, 57289207, 57293680, 57314695, 57299511, 57316273, 57296715, 57298469,57272849, 57281669, 57298827, 57289852, 57297020, 57295389, 57273633, 57273767, 57295721, 57316615, 57316473, 57294982, 57306069, کا رقبہ 5مرلے ہے۔ 57294324, 57299882, 57296678, 57273325, کا رقبہ4مرلے درج ہے ۔ اکاﺅنٹ نمبر57273783کا رقبہ8مرلے ہے ۔ اکاﺅنٹ نمبر57301406, 57309628, 57295800, 57282145, 57273741, 57273804 اور57297138 کا رقبہ10مرلے ہے۔57315555کا رقبہ 15 مرلے ہے۔57294058کا رقبہ 18مرلے، 57289928کا رقبہ25مرلے ہے ، 57275837 کا رقبہ 14 مرلے، 57294945 اور 57285096 کا رقبہ 30 مرلے ہے۔