In the absence of the new government, various officials from different departments of the Punjab government have refused to comply with the government orders to cope with the dengue epidemic, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Senior officials devised a long term strategy under the orders from the former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif after the incoming of the deadly dengue epidemic which shook the government. Even the chief secretary chaired meetings of all DCOs and secretaries passing on instructions for strict compliance of orders to curb dengue. However, the officials now have put such orders on the back burner, after which School Education Secretary Aslam Kamboh suspended a few officials and wrote to the Health Department for initiating an action against others officials.
Kamboh ordered suspension of Government Pilot High School Wahdat Road deputy headmaster and ordered for a registration of case against WASA SDO and the concerned sub-engineer for non-compliance of instructions regarding anti-dengue measures. He also issued orders for writing a letter to Health secretary and Health EDO for strict action against the Health deputy district officer for his continued absence from the meeting of Town Emergency Response Committee.
Kamboh issued these instructions while presiding over a meeting of Samanabad Emergency Response Committee on Thursday. Officers of all the concerned departments were present on the occasion.
Kamboh was presented a report by the Monitoring Committee that students of Government Pilot High School Wahdat Road have been found wearing half-sleeve shirts while there was filth in school premises and sanitary conditions were unsatisfactory. The provincial secretary issued orders for immediate suspension of the school’s deputy headmaster.
The monitoring team also reported leakage in the water tank at Ali Bazaar Icchra. The team briefed that the issue had been brought under the notice of Icchra SDO however no progress had been made to address the issue. The provincial secretary ordered the registration of a case against the concerned SDO and sub-engineer under anti-dengue laws.
Similarly, he issued instructions for writing a letter to Health secretary and Health EDO for strict action against Health DDO Dr Akram Arain for his continued absence from the meetings of Town Emergency Response Committee. The secretary stressed upon the officers to ensure their presence in the meetings of the committee and not to send their representative otherwise strict actions would be taken against them.
He further directed that headmasters of all educational institutions to ensure their presence in their schools on every Monday during summer vacations starting from June 1 and pay special attention to the cleanliness of the roofs of the school buildings, water tanks and sanitary conditions. He said that a circular had also been issued in this regard while monitoring teams were also being given instructions for the inspection of schools.
The provincial secretary was informed that a rickshaw stand set up by land grabbers in the premises of Iqbal Girls High School Chowk Nonarian had been vacated but some ‘influentials’ were not allowing construction of the boundary wall. Kamboh directed the concerned authorities to contact the police and ensure construction of the wall in the presence of police force. Moreover, he directed PHA authorities to maintain a movement register regarding the duty of the staff so that their attendance could be checked.
