LAHORE: The Public Accounts Committee, which met on Tuesday with Opposition Leader Mian Mahmoodur Rashid in the chair, took up audit objections to the Daanish School System and noted the incidence of alleged corruption in its establishment.

According to a press release by the leader of the opposition, one of the groups involved in construction - International Designers Group (IDG) - was given contract on much higher tariff – inflicting millions of rupees loss on the provincial exchequer.

The meeting, in which Punjab Finance Minister Ayesha Ghaus-Pasha also participated along with secretary (schools) and officials of the Daanish School System, discussed audit objections and noted that the IDG group was the culprit and the chair ordered blacklisting the company.

It particularly directed the Communication and Works (C&W) department to prepare a report on the group and present it in the next meeting of the PAC.

“If corruption becomes inbuilt phenomenon in the school systems, how can it later be saved from the menace,” said the leader of the opposition.

He said the provincial resources must be spent on general welfare of the people rather than diverting them to a particular class or segment of society. This attitude hindered progress.

After all, if the IDG quoted higher tariffs, someone from the system granted the contract on those rates. This cycle of corruption must break if the province has to be put on the road to recovery, he insisted.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2018