LAHORE: Even after a report revealed the financial irregularities worth millions of rupees in the Punjab Higher Education Department, no actions have been taken by the authorities so far.
Owing to the probability of senior officials being responsible for the irregularities, the committee constituted to look into the matter has been unable to do anything while also failing to submit its report although months have passed since the disclosure.
According to sources, financial irregularities of more than Rs480 million were exposed in the department earlier. While the anomalies were caused due to the purchasing of irrelevant and substandard equipment including furniture and laboratory items, the financial loss to the national exchequer was also added to due to the hiring of retired employees.
According to the details, the auditor general of Pakistan conducted a pre-audit in Lahore at an expense of Rs198,428,486. Irregularities of Rs145,186,000 appeared in the development teams of the Lahore directorate of education (colleges) while a squash court was unlawfully constructed at the Lawrence College Ghora Galli in Murree without a technical approval at a loss of Rs35,300,000.
Similarly, irregularities of Rs5,400,000 surfaced in the Rawalpindi directorate of education (colleges). The Bahawalpur directorate of education (colleges) faced a loss of Rs1,209,000 for buying substandard furniture while the retired employees of 58 years of age were hired in Gujranwala without the approval of the Punjab chief minister.
Speaking to Pakistan Today, the Punjab higher education spokesperson said that a committee has been constituted while considering the financial irregularities worth millions of rupees. A legal action will soon be taken against the officers responsible for the anomalies, he added.
