MULTAN: District council officials are in a fix how to arrange millions of rupees incurred on food distributed among mourners on Ashura. According to an official handout, food, juices and water bottles were distributed at 15 points in the district.

Sources said it was a rare arrangement of its kind by DC Aamir Khattak. But when he asked the district council to make the payment to the contractor, officials informed him that they could not face the Anti-Corruption Establishment as the amount was in millions. A senior officer of the district council informed the DC that instead of making payment he would prefer to be transferred. District council’s Chief Officer Chaudhry Shahid said that only the DC could explain from which head payments will be made.

“So far I did not receive any bill. DC is the concerned authority to decide from which account the payment will be made,” he said. DC Khattak said the amount would be paid from government funds.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2019