May 9, 2002	Thursday	Safar 25, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, May 8: The ad-hoc public accounts committee (PAC) ordered on Wednesday an inquiry into misuse of vehicle, telephone and other facilities provided by the US to the narcotics control division for the eradication of narcotics in three periods.

The committee was informed that two million rupees had been incurred on excess residential telephones and vehicles provided to ministers, secretaries and other officials of the narcotics control division during 1991-2000.

It asked the PAO to comply with the audit para requirement and submit a report within one month after the completion of the inquiry.

The PAC, during a review of the audit reports on the narcotics division for the year 1999-2000, expressed concern over the misuse of funds by the respective officials, and stated that such type of bungling ought to be controlled immediately and the responsible for the wrongdoings be brought to book.

Presided over by H. U. Baig, a meeting of the committee was informed by narcotics division secretary Aziz Khan that poppy cultivation and production had shown an upward trend in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the US air raids on that country.

He said narcotics control departments had been established at the provincial level and the first inter-provincial meeting would be held on May 27 at Islamabad with federal interior and narcotics control minister Moinuddin Haider in the chair.

He claimed that the government’s efforts to end poppy cultivation had met with success in a number of areas, including Gadoon Amzai, Bajaur and the Mohmand Agency, with some pockets of the Khyber Agency still producing the drug.

The PAC expressed its displeasure at the mismanagement and a helpless situation pertaining to utilization of government grants by the narcotics control division.

It was surprised to know that the narcotics division, after saving an amount of Rs47.121 million and surrendering Rs38.547 million as surplus, received a supplementary grant of Rs29.871 million, showing sheer lack of planning.

The committee asked the PAO to undertake an inquiry into the matter and fix responsibility for the submission of wrong reconciliation figures, resulting in fudging of accounts.

According to a survey, conducted in 1993, the total number of drug addicts in Pakistan stood at about four million out of which two million were heroine users. A recent survey shows a reasonable decline in heroin consumers reducing their number to 500,000.

The PAO informed the committee that the narcotics division had not been able to effectively rehabilitate the drug addicts due to budgetary constraints.

The meeting was attended by members of the committee and senior officials of the auditor-general of Pakistan and narcotics control division.