QUETTA, Nov 9: Balochistan Minister for Communications and Works Mir Sadiq Umrani assured the provincial assembly on Saturday that the government would take disciplinary action against the civil engineers who had awarded various contracts without obtaining approval from the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec).

Speaker Aslam Bhootani chaired the session.

During the question hour, Mir Zahoor Khoso said the C&W engineers had also paid advance amount to a contractor for construction of a road in Suhbatpur tehsil of the Jaffarabad district.Disagreeing with the questioner, the minister said the matter may pertain to the previous government and assured him that the issue would be investigated and a report would be presented before the house.

Mir Khoso insisted that advance payment had been made to the contractor by the present government.

On a supplementary question raised by Jaffar Khan Mandokhel, the minister conceded that the Barakshaz-Badani road had not been approved by Ecnec and the tender had been passed by the provincial government. He said that the work order had not been issued due to lack of funds.

He assured the house that irregularities would not be tolerated and sought the cooperation of Mr Mandokhel to remove mismanagement from the department. In reply to another question, the minister said that 368 engineers of grade 17-20 were performing duty in the C&W department and the cases of OSDs (officers on special duty) would be reviewed.