The bureaucracy is famous for placing hurdles in the way of ministers carrying out different assignments, and the latest incident in this regard is the case of Sindh Minister for Women Development Department Tauqir Fatima Bhutto and her department’s secretary who are at loggerheads with each other for the last couple of months, as the minister has been stopped from achieving the targeted goals, it has emerged.
Moreover, the secretary was also interfering in each development move made by the minister by citing one or another reason for the delay in work.
Meanwhile, the department’s files were lying pending on the bureaucrat’s table from a long time, and the minister and the directorate of the women development department had to send multiple reminders to the officials concerned to process the official files and summaries, well-placed sources told Pakistan Today.
Interestingly, the secretary’s rude attitude was also witnessed by dozens of media persons on December 21, 2012, when the department of women development was celebrating the International Women Day in collaboration with the media and the representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
However, the minister and all the participants got shocked when the secretary named Rashid Ali was called to the stage to give a speech. After the announcement, the minister and the participants were annoyed to find out that the secretary did not bother to attend the very important event just because he had developed differences with the minister.
In a recent case, the directorate of women development department had forwarded a letter No PD/BBSYDP/DWD/2012-13 to the secretary reminding him to approve the pending files so that the expenditures of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Program phase-II and III could be closed and which stood at Rs 100 million.
“Reference to the subject cited it is to state that the file No PD/BBSYDP/DWDPub: &Adver/2012-13 and file No PD/BBSYDP/OM2012-13 were sent to your good office dated December 11, 2012 for approval of payment of stipends to trainees and training cost to the Primus Institute for Office Management Skill Programme under BBSYDP-DWD, but the same is still awaited and not yet approved for onward payment”, according to a letter available with Pakistan Today.
“In this connection, it is highlighted before the worthy secretary that the training of Office Management Skill Program has already been closed on May 20, 2012 and payments of those head of accounts have already suffered a lot due to frequent change of secretaries (WDD) and Project Director-BBSYDP. It is therefore requested that the expenditure may kindly be sanctioned and approval be solicited to expedite the closing of the II and III phase”, the letter further added.
“I don’t know why the secretary of my department is running the department with such arrogance. He gives no response to the decision made in the high-powered meetings and does not take interest in proposals that will ensure smooth running of department tasks”, Tauqir Fatima told Pakistan Today.
The minister said that the secretary had also made illegal appointments in the department and he got angry when objections were raised, adding that the officer was arbitrarily delaying the official files of much important for reasons best known to him.
“The secretary used to attend the meeting, however, he never issues minutes of the meeting or comply with the decision taken in the meeting that shows that the secretary is working on instructions coming from other place,” Tauqir Fatima added.
Pakistan Today repeatedly tried to seek secretary Rashid’s version, however, his cell phone remained switched off.
