Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Punjab President Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo has demanded of the Punjab government to defer the Lahore Metro Train Project indefinitely and instead spend Rs 165 billion on building dams’ network in Punjab to conserve rain waters which are critical for the future of the agriculture in the province.
He wondered when the government would ‘see sense’ in building water reservoirs in the province when Pakistan has been placed at no three on list of countries to be hit worst by drought, he said in a statement issued.
He further said that the PPP would launch movement to mobilise public opinion in favour of dams and against the train project if the government did not abandon the project that characteristically was the height of the flawed development strategy of the Punjab government-led by Shahbaz Sharif reflecting erroneous priorities mired by urban-rural discriminatory development planning.
He said that the government had been in power in Punjab for about two decades but it did not pay attention to building water reservoirs in the province reflecting the shortsightedness of its leadership that could not see the looming dangers of drought in the country that was not too far away.
He recalled that floods seemingly had become the regular feature of Pakistan due to erratic weather pattern causing hundreds of billions of losses of life, property and crops throughout the province each year but the government was, regretfully, obsessed with the flashy and showy projects.
He maintained that Pakistan was blessed in abundance with water that should be used to boost agricultural production and cheap electricity generation.
But, our incompetence to harness this potential to put the country on the trajectory of accelerated growth of the economy is unforgiving, he observed.
He argued that Pakistani would have been facing the worst type of drought today if Tarbela Dam and Mangla Dam had not been built in Pakistan.
n”,”serif”‘>The petitioners requested the court to declare the acquisition of land and the plan to set up a coal power plant in a residential area illegal.
apanese car having registration number No 225, Car No. LEC-7665 and bank balance amounting to Rs 16,000,000 in UBL, Sargodha Road Branch.”
The source said that it was surprising that no senior official had bothered to enquire how a Grade 12 stenographer was able to amass this wealth.
According to documents available with the scribe, route permit No.294 dated: 19-06-2009 issued from the District Regional Transport Authority, Sargodha shows that truck no. SGD-7423 was permitted for plying in 36 districts of Punjab against a fee of Rs 4,550 however the relevant ledger shows that Dolla had deposited only Rs 450 in the treasury and kept the remaining sum with himself.
Another document shows that route permit No.592 dated 31-12-2009 issued from the District Regional Transport Authority, Sargodha shows that truck no. RIR-6608 was permitted for plying in 36 districts of Punjab against a free of Rs 4,550 but only Rs 1,550 had been deposited in the treasury.
Several other documents available with the newspaper reveal similar frauds perpetrated by Dolla and his accomplices in the accounts of the regional transport authorities of Sargodha and Faisalabad.
Pakistan Today reached out to Abdul Rehman Dolla for comments on the corruption allegations but he switched off his phone saying he was not involved in any corrupt practice.
An official of the National Accountability Bureau told Pakistan Today that they had received information about the corruption at the regional transport departments and would soon begin an investigation into the matter.
the calls and text messages.
