Daily Times

The Ministry of Climate Change (MOCC) is reluctant to initiate an inquiry against the alleged embezzlement in the funds allocated for the maintenance of the laboratories in Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA).

According to details, a supplementary grant of Rs 19.3 Million was allocated during the financial year 2016-17 for the maintenance and service of the laboratory equipment in Pak-EPA. However, the contract was allocated to a ‘blue-eyed’ company without following Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules.

Pak-EPA Laboratory Assistant Sajid Mahmood claims in his application submitted to the MOCC secretary, that the contract of the service and maintenance of laboratory equipment was awarded to a Lahore based company without following the PPRA rules.

The funds have been spent it shows in the government documents. However, no renovation or service of the equipment, kits and chemicals work has been done on ground, he said in his letter to the ministry.

Sajid in his application also claims that the Pak-EPA director general is also misusing the official vehicles besides drawing monetisation.

Pak-EPA DG allegedly misusing official vehicles, drawing monetisation

He also raised concerns over nepotism in the department, saying that as stated he was the laboratory assistant by designation, but when he joined the office after one year of medical leave, the DG deputed him in the legal / enforcement section.

In his letter, he asked the secretary to conduct an investigation into the alleged irregularities in the consumption of the supplementary grant allocated for the maintenance and service of the laboratory equipment, and also take notice of the non-conducive working environment in the department.

Even after the passage of more than eight months of the letter, the ministry was yet to respond to letter, and carry out an inquiry to see whether any corruption had been done or not.

Despite multiple visits, the MOCC secretary could not be reached to get his version, moreover, the MOCC director media also refused to comment on the matter.

Sources in the ministry told Daily Times that the MOCC had kept the application under the table and did not initiate any inquiry. However, when the Pak-EPA DG came to know about the application that had been filed against her, she initiated a departmental inquiry against Sajid.