July 20, 2008	Sunday	Rajab 16, 1429

ISLAMABAD: July 19: A Senate committee on Saturday found serious irregularities in the Tawana Pakistan Programme and summoned former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, former social welfare ministers and other officials concerned on August 23 for an explanation.

The sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Social Welfare and Special Education held a meeting in the Parliament House and discussed the Tawana project launched by the previous government in 2002.

The audit report of the project revealed serious irregularities in the programme which aimed to provide nutrition to students in poor and backward areas of the country.

Participants of the committee, chaired by Senator Enver Baig, said that former prime minister Shaukat Aziz was the finance minister when the project was launched and then he became prime minister, but he did not take any notice of the irregularities.

They decided to summon Mr Aziz along with former social welfare ministers Zubaida Jalal and Attiya Inayatullah, former secretary social welfare Naeem Khan, then deputy chairman planning Akram Sheikh, ex-MD Pakistan Baitul Mall Brig Mohammad Sarfaraz, project head Irfanullah Khan and other employees as well as private food companies Vita and Maza, representatives of the National Bank, PIMS over misuse of funds and violation of rules.

Mr Baig told Dawn the programme was initiated in 2002 with Rs616 million to provide cooked meal, food supplements like energy-biscuits, milk and juices to about 530,000 girl students of 5,300 schools located in poor and backward districts of the country.

But the huge amounts allocated for the programme were misused.

More money was injected into it without proper approval. Children were provided expired and sub-standard food supplements as a result of which many students fainted on the spot in some areas.

The social welfare ministry had been implementing the project through Pakistan Baitul Mall, the Aga Khan Foundation and 11 NGOs in close collaboration with district governments.

Asked about the channel to be used for summoning the accused especially Mr Shaukat Aziz, he said the committee would direct the cabinet division or the PM secretariat which would communicate to the former prime minister to appear before the committee on the fixed date.

He said that Mr Shaukat Aziz was a responsible man and hoped he would appear before the committee to clear his position.

The committee also decided to ask the interior ministry to put the name of director-general of the project, Iranullah Khan, on the Exit Control List.

Officials of the ministry told the meeting that proper approval was not sought for the project.

Monitoring and evaluation was cared for which, they said, raised questions about disbursement mechanism and verification of beneficiaries.

Former secretary social welfare Rasool Buksh Baloch after detecting the massive irregularities closed the project in 2007. He informed the committee that he and his family ‘received life threats for suspending the project and ordering an inquiry’.

Senators Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, Shuja-ul-Mulk and senior officials of the social welfare ministry and MD Baitul Mall Zamarud Khan also attended the meeting.