LAHORE, July 20: A public accounts committee of the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday ordered recovery of Rs1 million from the Rahim Yar Khan superintending engineer for overpaying a contractor.

The communication and works official had not only withdrawn the penalty imposed on the builder of Rahim Yar Khan Commercial Institute for delaying the project but also paid him for fluctuation in prices of raw material during the extra period of time.

The official took this action without giving any cogent reason. The PAC, headed by Asif Saeed Manais, sought to recover the amount from the SE within 60 days and also ordered action against audit department officials who had failed to check the anomaly.

It also directed all provincial departments to surrender unutilized funds by the end of March. The committee took serious note of education/buildings department's failure to surrender Rs80 million funds, before these lapsed at the end of the financial year.

The C&W secretary told the body that the funds had been allocated to the department, but the amount lapsed because the education department failed to give administrative approval for construction of certain buildings.

The PAC expressed concern at initiation of work on the Lalamusa railway road project without issuing tenders for the purpose. Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, a committee member from Gujrat, observed that the quality of roads in his district was poor.

C&W department officials also admitted that the condition of roads built in the district started deteriorating within a year. The committee warned the C&W officials that it would take action under the relevant rules if they did not improve the standard of their work.