0
SARGODHA, July 22: A number of grade 17 government officials have been rendering millions of rupees loss to the public exchequer under the head of house rents.
This was alleged by an official, who requested anonymity, while talking to Dawn here on Saturday.
He said at least 63 official residences and other departmental houses were constructed for the government officials of grade 16 to 18 with a huge expenditure.
In GOR-1, he said there were 18 residences for officers of grade 18 and 19. Of those, eight had been occupied by the grade 17 officers without entitlement, he added.
According to the rules, he said the residents had to ensure deduction of 10 per cent of the maximum stage of grade 18 or 19 which could be roughly aggregated up to Rs2,500 a month. However, he said the occupants had been submitting deductions of five per cent and, thus, causing heavy loss to the public exchequer.
In GOR-II, the government got constructed two houses for grade 18 and 19 officers, he said and added one of the houses had been occupied by a grade 17 officer and he had been paying submitting five per cent deductions.
The official said some nine grade 17 officers had been residing in GOR-III and they had been paying on the same pattern. The total number of houses for grade 18 and 19 here was 20. In GOR-IV, he said a grade 17 officer had occupied a residence.
He said the local DCO initiated action sometime back but without success. However, he said the district accounts’ officer had issued notices for freezing the salaries of such officers while the officers had been planning to move court to prolong the payment.
BOOK LAUNCHING: A man can travel around the world by road with minimum of expenditure and enjoy eye-catching landscapes with will at his back.
This was stated by renowned tourist and scout leader Masood Ahmad Chughtai while talking to newsmen at the launching of his book titled Gohar-i-Maqsood at the local press club on Saturday.
He claimed in 1993, he had travelled by road from Pakistan to London, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Holland and Belgium and spent only Rs40,000.
“Adequate training as scout and command of English language helped me achieving the cherished goal,” he said.
He said he had written eight books which offered to their readers exciting information about various countries. These books were a useful guide on how to obtain visas, he claimed. He said he was satisfied after publishing a book titled Pakistan Travel Hand Book.
Mr Chughtai said he was planning to visit eastern countries besides travelling by road to Saudi Arabia for performing Haj. He said he would pen down the details of his visit in a book titled Road to Makkah.
ROAD PROJECT: The Punjab government will initiate road sector’s development in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank, a government spokesman told Dawn on Saturday.
