PHC dissatisfied with NAB inquiry into waste treatment plants issue

PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction over inquiry conducted by National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, into abandoning of a project of setting up two sewage treatment plants here despite utilising huge sum of money two decades ago.

The bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Mohammad Ayub Khan directed the bureau to fix responsibility on the delinquent officials. It also directed the local government department secretary to cooperate with NAB in probing the issue and also to provide relevant record to it.

The bench observed that in the inquiry NAB had not fixed responsibility on any of the officials responsible for wastage of money.

The bench directed that NAB should probe whether any corruption had taken place while executing the project and who were the officials, who abandoned it.

The bench fixed October 23 for next hearing of the writ petition filed by a resident of Peshawar, Hamad Hassan Yousafzai.

The petitioner has sought directives from the court for the government for setting up of solid waste dumping site.

However, during course of proceedings, the court took suo moto notice of abandoning of the project of establishing sewage treatment plants and ordered NAB in May to conduct an inquiry in that regard.

Advocate Ghulam Shoaib Jally appeared for the petitioner and contended that in 1993, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had decided to construct two sewage treatment plants in Hayatabad and Cahrssada Road areas. He stated that the project was supposed to be financially assisted by Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Mr Shoaib said that because of absence of sewage treatment plants in the provincial capital, untreated drain water had been draining into different canals of Peshawar which made the water unfit for irrigation apart from becoming a threat to public health and aquatic life in the rivers.

He requested the court to make accountable the planners for wastage of public money.

NAB prosecutors Saeed Khan and Umer Farooq and an inquiry officer appeared before the bench and stated that the officials concerned of local government department had not been cooperating with them in the inquiry. They stated that the officials claimed that as considerable time had lapsed, therefore, the relevant record was not available with them.

They pointed out that according to their probe the machinery installed at those plants were not in running condition and could no longer be utilised. They added that Rs38 million were spent on civil work of one of the plants but its PC-I could not be traced.

Meanwhile, the bench was informed by a representative of Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) that land measuring 819 kanals had been acquired in Shamshato area for dumping of solid waste. He stated that the government would also set up a waste recycling plant there.

The bench was hearing a writ petition filed by Advocate Malik Masraf, who has challenged dumping of solid waste including hospital wastes near a residential area in Hazarkhwani.

The petitioner stated that due to non- acquiring of land by the government, the solid wastes of entire city had been dumped in the said area.

The bench fixed November 6 for next hearing of the petition, directing the WSSP to inform the court on that date about the progress on the dumping site and establishment of recycle plant there

Source: Dawn News