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| November 22, 2007 | Thursday | Ziqa’ad 11, 1428 |
KARACHI: Bid to undersell FCS equipment foiled
KARACHI, Nov 21: Employees of the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS) seized three trucks on Tuesday night and prevented them from loading valuable fishing equipment from the Karachi Fish Harbour, thereby foiling what they termed an attempt to sell at throwaway prices goods actually worth millions of rupees.
The employees immediately informed senior elected directors of the now-defunct FCS board of directors, who told the employees not to allow any “illegal transportation” of the fishing equipment at the harbour and threatened legal consequences if the directives were not followed.
The equipment that was to be transported included 2,000 life jackets, 3,500 lifebuoys, 4,400 fishing nets in varying sizes, 150 rolls of nylon twine, 67 synthetic floats, two Japanese engines, an imported cleaning machine, thousands of fibre shrimp baskets, steel tables and several other items. According to an FCS official, the total cost of these items was Rs70 million at the minimum, yet the relevant release letter values them at just over Rs6 million.
Newsmen were taken to the FCS store department and shown the fishing equipment, as well as the three trucks (licence numbers KSI-733, JU-0104 and LSA-2612) parked there for loading purposes.
At a joint press conference held at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday, senior FCS directors Haji Shafi Mohammed Jamote, Haji Mohammed Yunis, Salim Deedag, Habibullah Khan Niazi, Habibullah Baloch and the vice-president of the Sindh Trawlers Association, Mir Khan Niazi, accused the current FCS administrator of having contracted an underhand deal with a private party concerning the sale of these appliances at throwaway prices. Describing it as a “secret deal”, the directors claimed that the administrator had bypassed legal procedures and that no open bid had been brought to public notice.
The FCS manager administration had issued a letter dated 26-10-07 to a private party and addressed it to the store officer and security in-charge regarding the release of the items. It states: “The management has been pleased to approve your revised highest bid of Rs6,050,000 (Rs six million and fifty thousand only) against the purchase of fishing appliances lying in store department.” In the second paragraph of the letter, the private party is advised to deposit the sum through a National Bank of Pakistan pay order in favour of the FCS and receive delivery of the items from the store department.
The FCS directors said that the manager administration had held a meeting with officials of the store department, advising the release of the items within three days of the payment having been made.
However, sensing foul play on Tuesday night, employees resisted the transportation of the items and brought the matter to the attention of the FCS directors. Speaking the press conference, Haji Jamote said that the now-defunct board had discussed the issue of junk and had reached a consensus decision that only waste material would be disposed of through an auction conducted in a proper and lawful manner by floating bids. Moreover, he said, it had been decided that preference would be given to the fishing community.
Haji Jamote alleged, however, that the administrator had cut a deal with a private party and had not adopted the proper course. Saying that this was not the first case of such irregularities, he added that the administrator had earlier drawn Rs10 million from the NIT unit but there was no account on record showing where the money had been spent.
The FCS directors accused the FCS medical officer of embezzling millions of rupees from funds meant for the purchase of medicines. They also alleged that funds released for fishermen’s welfare during the rain-related emergency had also been embezzled.
Holding the administrator responsible for having created the current mess, the directors called for a thorough inquiry into the Society’s affairs. They said that the FCS was financially crippled and cited as evidence the fact that employee salaries had not been paid for the past two months, while utility bills also remained unpaid.
Responding to a question, Haji Jamote said that the elected directors had decided to take to court the matter of the “illegal dissolution of the Society’s board.”
Meanwhile, the employees’ union of the FCS held a protest meeting and demanded the immediate payment of salaries. Warning that the protest meetings would continue until the salaries were paid, union vice-president Mohammed Ashraf held the current FCS administration responsible for ruining the Society. “The FCS was a financially viable organisation but it was ruined by corrupt officers,” he said, calling for the immediate removal of the current administrator and manager administration.
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