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.