Federal Secretary for Cabinet Division and Water and Power Nargis Sethi – one of the most powerful bureaucrats and a firm believer in the rules of business – has been removed from the Ministry of Water and Power, reportedly on the pressure of some ministers and influential people.
According to reports, she refused to release subsidies of Rs 40 billion and Rs 2 billion for projects not approved under prescribed rules and procedures with 23 days remaining in the present government’s tenure.
Highly reliable sources said on Saturday that Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Minister for Kashmir Affairs Manzoor Wattoo, and some other important people were annoyed with Sethi. Sources said that Sethi had personally requested the prime minister that she be relieved of the additional charge of the Water and Power Ministry.
After getting the additional charge of the Water and Power Ministry, Sethi took immediate steps to stop corrupt practices in the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) and other institutions in order to reduce load shedding and to bring parity in load shedding between rural and urban areas. She was also instrumental in recovering arrears from influential persons, and refused requests by ministers and parliamentarians for transferring WAPDA XENs and SDOs.
According to another report, the minister of water and power had asked Sethi to appoint Mehboob Alam, acting chief executive officer of the Gujranwala Distribution Company, as the managing director of the NTDC, and in his place appoint Javed Azad, a superintendent engineer. But she refused to accept the recommendation on the plea that Mehboob Alam was a junior officer and could not be posted at such a senior position.
Two weeks ago, during the meeting of a four-member committee comprising the defence minister, the minister for Kashmir affairs, the finance secretary and the Water and Power secretary, Wattoo pressed for a flat rate subsidy of Rs 40 billion for tube wells – a proposal strongly opposed by the secretaries of finance and water and power. However, the committee approved the flat rate subsidy proposal for tube wells, which would be sent to the new water and power secretary, Rai Sikandar, for approval.
Sikandar is Grade-21 officer who has been given the charge of the ministry. He is junior to Water and Power Special Secretary Himayatullah Khan and Additional Secretary Arshad Mirza.