Pir Mazhar Prado-ing the wrong way

A Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, which was purchased for the Sindh Elementary Teacher Training Project (SETTP), is being used by Senior Education and Literacy Minister Pir Mazharul Haq for his personal use.
Besides, there were financial irregularities of around Rs 404.51 million in the affairs of 18 different sections and projects of the Education Department. All this and much more was revealed in the Education Department’s audit report obtained by Pakistan Today.
The report also disclosed that the minister used Rs 500,000 of the department’s funds for purchasing fuel and on repairing the Prado (No GS-5456). This irregularity was pointed out by the Audit Department in August 2009 and Haq is not entitled to possess the vehicle because he is already benefiting from many official vehicles as a minister, the report further revealed. According to the report, the SETTP management had requested Haq to return the vehicle to the project, but the minister refused to do so.
Sources in the Education Department said that besides Haq possessing the vehicle, the personal staff of the minister possesses 25 vehicles of various projects of the department for their personal use and a Toyota HiAce of the SETTP has been a part of the minister’s convoy since he took oath of his office.The National Accountability Bureau is probing the purchase of vehicles. Former Education Secretary Naheed Durrani had filed the reference of fraud of millions of rupees in purchasing of vehicles by the Education Department, following which she was forcibly transferred from the department.
The development of a nation or a country is directly linked with dissemination of education, but the provincial education department has proven ineffectual in providing quality education to the future generation of Sindh, even though looking after the educational affairs within the province is the responsibility of the Education Department.
With 8,000 schools out of 40,000 closed and a large number of ghost teachers and ministerial staff on the payroll, the Education Department is also guilty of financial irregularities of over Rs 400 million in the financial year 2008-09 alone. In 2008-09, the total grant allocated to the department was Rs 14.582 billion, of which Rs 11.826 million were spent, but only 30 percent of the amount was actually audited and the report was sent to the principal accounting officer/secretary of the department, but despite the directions of the Audit Department, no departmental accounts committee was convened and the department neglected the matter until the finalisation of the audit report.
The report revealed that Rs 202.779 million were spent in non-adjustment of advances, Rs 88.831 million in expenditure on luxury vehicles, Rs 41 million in unauthorised retention of funds, Rs 20 million in wasteful expenditure on printing of modules, Rs 13.98 million in payment of scholarship without proper checking, Rs 6.753 million in expenditure without inviting tenders, Rs 4.187 million in non-deduction of government taxes, Rs 3.733 million in payment of salaries without provision, Rs 2.59 million in non-deposit of income tax and unauthorised utilisation, Rs 2.5 million in purchase of computer equipment without prevision, Rs 2.234 million in irregular purchase of furniture and equipment, Rs 1.75 million in award of work in excess of quoted rates, Rs 1.432 million in excess payment due to excess execution of items of work, etc.
In the assessment report, the Audit Department recommended that the responsibility should be fixed against the persons who are involved in these irregularities and for not observing the provisions of the rules. The department stressed that the matters should be further investigated, and the amount be recovered and deposited in the government’s account. It is pertinent to mention here that scholarships awarded to students belonging to Dadu district – from where Haq hails – for Primary Teachers’ Course is over 300 percent without appropriate checking. The collective amount paid to the students of Dadu is Rs 3.04 million, whereas Rs 320,000 were paid to the students of Karachi division, Rs 1.1 million to the students of Larkana district and Rs 2.3 million to the students of Khairpur district.