November 06, 2006	Monday	Shawwal 13, 1427

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MULTAN, Nov 5: The Dera Ghazi Khan Tehsil Municipal Administration has given the publicity fee contract to a person who does not reportedly exist at all.

The TMA approved the contract No841/TN in the name of Muhammad Kamran, a resident of 97/A Johar Town, Lahore on June 30, 2006.

A work order issued to Muhammad Kamran said he had submitted the highest bid (Rs2.115 million) for the contract for the current fiscal year and he would collect fee through receipt book provided by the TMA according to schedule.

Moreover, he would be bound to raise the amount of tender in case of increase in ratio of schedule or yardstick and pay all dues according to the agreement and in case of non-compliance, all the deposited amount would be confiscated, it said.

An amount of Rs434,000 was deposited with the TMA account on June 30 and out of it, Rs174,000 was the first installment of July.

A TMA official told this correspondent that according to TMA rules, if any contractor would not deposit an installment till the 5th of every month, the TMA would issue him a notice and the contract would stand cancelled automatically within three days.

Neither the contractor deposited installments of August, September and October till the end of October nor the TMA cancelled the contract.

The TMA handed over the work order to a person namely Shabir Hasnain bearing signatures of TMO Zubair Wattoo, TO (finance) Iqbal Fareed and DG Khan tehsil nazim Mehmood Qadir Leghari.

Sources said the contract was actually being run by Shabir Hasnain and tehsil council member Tahir Bilal Toor who were very close to the tehsil nazim.

Reports said a government contractor having a company could receive the publicity fee through cheques only and if he would open an account in any bank, he would submit the registration letter of his firm. In view of the fact that the contractor did not exist, an account was opened at Meezan Bank, Dera Ghazi Khan during the first week of September in the name of Kamran Brothers being run by Shabir Hasnain.

It is surprising that when the contractor is Muhammad Kamran how can Kamran Brothers receive the fee from clients.

Five cheques of Rs72,000 from Ads King, Rs20,000 from Master Advertisers, Rs3,600 from Agha Khan Laboratory, Rs5,920 from TCS Pakistan and Rs50,000 from Top Fan, Multan were cashed within a week after opening of the account.

Although the bank was not authorised to open the account without an authority or registration letter, it violated the State Bank rules.

Meezan Bank manager Rehman Aziz said an account could be opened with a stamp and letter pad of the company on the recommendation of an introducer or with an authority letter while there was no need of any registration letter.

When contacted, TMO Zubair Wattoo said Mr Hasnain could receive the work order on behalf of the contractor on an authority letter and he possessed it.

To a question as to why did the TMA not cancel the contract even the contractor had failed to deposit three-month installments, he said: “The TO (finance) is responsible for it and the TMA has cancelled the contract three days back.

On contacting, nazim Mehmood Qadir Leghari said he was not bound to answer such questions while Malik Iqbal Fareed also declined to comment.

Meanwhile, a source said the tehsil nazim was authorised to absolve the entire fine - Rs2,000 daily — on non-payment of installments.

Another source told Dawn that the contract had been renewed on Nov 3 after its cancellation on Oct 30 while the party submitted a cheque of Rs990,000, including the November’s installment dated Nov 6, 2006.

He said the TMA could not renew the contract before depositing of the money but the administration renewed it to that contractor with pseudonym once again.