LAHORE, May 7: Massive financial and administrative irregularities have been detected in development projects of the auqaf department, forcing the authorities to change the procedure of awarding contracts.

Officials told Dawnon Wednesday that financial irregularities regarding the security at call by contractors and their income tax had been found.

“It is massive and needs a detailed investigation. But, initially, we can say that the irregularities involve millions of rupees,” they said.

They said development projects of the auqaf department had been conducted by its engineering side which single-handedly dealt with matters from technical sanction of projects and award of contracts to the final payment to contractors.

They said the department had now found that in most cases the security at call had not properly been utilized and those handling the development projects had not deposited the income tax with the income tax department over the past many years.

They said, under the law, contractors were required to deposit two per cent of the security at call while submitting tenders and five to 10 per cent of it after receiving work orders. “This money is returnable to the contractors upon successful completion of projects but this has not been done in over 95 per cent cases,” they said.

The officials said there was no proper record of the security at call and in most cases it was shown to be utilized as funds for more projects, leaving nothing for the contractors. Now the security at call was a burden for the auqaf department, which was facing problems in arranging funds for the demanding contractors.

Similarly, they said the officials concerned had not been deducting income tax from the contractors bills. Whenever it was deducted, it was never deposited with the income tax department, making another unnecessary liability for the auqaf department.

To avoid complications in future, they said, the department has now decided to hand over the financial aspect of development projects to its finance and audit department.

The officials said since the authorities too had found faults in the design and utility of different development projects like the expansion of the Dera Ghazi Khan shrine of Sakhi Sarwar, they had constituted a concept clearance committee to approve projects in future.

Of the Rs25 million Sakhi Sarwar project, they said, Rs19 million have already been spent on a rest house for devotees. Payment of the remaining amount has been stopped after finding the rest house of no use, they said.

They said the concept clearance committee was headed by the auqaf secretary and comprised directors of religious affairs, finance and planning, the chief architect, the administrator of the zone concerned and officials of the provincial archaeology department.

Every project will now be designed after a go-ahead by the concept clearance committee to ensure purpose-built development at shrines and mosques by the auqaf department, they said, adding the department would also ensure development projects were evenly distributed.