“The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government is getting a bad reputation due to the Sindh Irrigation and Revenue departments. What is the purpose of their existence if they cannot improve their performance and have failed to provide relief to the common man?” Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Jam Tamachi Unnar said on Wednesday.
Unnar, who is also the ruling PPP’s member of the provincial assembly, was presiding over a PAC meeting at the Sindh Assembly building to examine the Irrigation Department’s audit reports of 2006-09.
“What is the purpose of the Irrigation Department if it has failed to recover the outstanding money as well as provide water to the tail-end areas?” Unnar asked.
The committee expressed concern and annoyance over the Irrigation Department’s failure in recovering Rs 2 billion that were supposed to be recovered during a period of three years.
Irrigation Secretary Khalid Memon told the PAC that only Rs 150 million have been recovered during that period.
Irrigation Department officials failed to settle the paras of the audit reports and sought time of two more months to be able to do so.
The PAC deferred the proceedings on the audit paras at their request, but directed them not to claim TA/DA of the meeting.
The committee recommended the Sindh government to withdraw the recovery powers of the Irrigation Department officials if they fail in recovering the outstanding amount.
The PAC has summoned the Sindh irrigation minister in the next meeting of the committee. It also directed the PAC secretary to inform Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah that bureaucrats belonging to different departments are not taking the PAC meetings seriously.
