LAHORE: PMLN Chief Whip Rana M Arshad and ruling party MPAs have expressed disappointment over the way what they say bureaucracy is bent upon tarnishing the image of the government.
Lacklustre response from bureaucracy towards the matters taken by MPAs and particularly the onus faced by the PMLN legislatures due to ‘wrong’ decisions of officials resulted in strong protest during a meeting related to Local Government in Punjab Assembly secretariat
The meeting was chaired by MPA Ashraf Rasool and other MPAs who attended the meeting were PMLN Chief Whip Rana Arshad, Amjad Ali Javaid, Zulfiqar Shah while Secretary Local Government MianShakeel, DC Nankana and other officials were also present on the occasion. Rana Arshad, PMLN Chief Whip, protested before the Secretary of Local Government and the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Nankana over the demolition of a minaret at NoulakhaChowk in Shahkot.
‘I feel ashamed that I am the Chief Whip of PMLN and my notification was issued by the Chief Minister,” said Rana M Arshad. ‘I had raised the issue of ShahkotNoulakhaChowk on February 7, yet the Secretary is unaware,’ said Rana M Arshad. ‘We, a House of 371 members, end up looking towards the officers to see what they will say,’ he added.
‘What we are supposed to do, and who we should face, he questioned. ‘The minaret in question was constructed by shopkeepers with the approval of the former Assistant Commissioner,’ said Rana Arshad.
‘The Municipal Committee demolished it, claiming space was needed to park handcarts,’ he added. ‘The minaret had the Kalma written on it, and people gathered against our government alleging disrespect,’ he said.
‘There is no beautification taking place, and instead, existing structures are being demolished’, he added. ‘It was done deliberately to degrade us, where we should go, where we should hide our face from people,’ asked Rana Arshad.
He said the local Municipal Committee collected a fine of around Rs2 million during a recent event and asked officials, whether they knew it was deposited to the exchequer.‘They don’t even know who is collecting how much money,’ said Amjad Ali Javed, another PMLN MPA. ‘The minaret was demolished because it was obstructing the passage of trucks,’ said the DC Shahkot while responding to the complaint.
‘Submit a complete report on this matter to the committee within 15 days,’ directed Committee Chairman Pir Ashraf Rasool. ‘We will conduct an inquiry and present the report to the committee,’ said the Secretary of Local Government. Sources said MPAs on the occasion also voiced concern over the complaints of corruption by the local TMA staff which is headed by the Assistant Commissioner concerned.
