LAHORE: In a drive against defaulters, the Punjab government on Saturday released a list of 76 politicians, bureaucrats and others for defaulting on the payment for their stay and meals at Punjab House in Islamabad.

As many as 30 defaulters belong to the Prime Minister House alone in one way or the other.

As a prelude, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had named five Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz legislators and a former advocate general for defaulting on payment of Rs63.7 million bills on account of their stay at Punjab House at his maiden press conference on Thursday.

Since the chief minister announced that the Punjab House defaulters were supposed to pay the outstanding bills, the provincial government consequently released the list of 76 defaulters.

Thirty of 76 defaulters got rooms on recommendation of PM House

The Punjab government will send notices to the defaulters asking them to pay the outstanding bills. However, the bureaucrats would be asked to explain their position if they had stayed at Punjab House for official work.

The provincial government, it is learnt, has also asked the relevant authorities to prepare a list of defaulters of Punjab House in other provinces and furnish it at the earliest.

When contacted, the chief minister’s spokesman Dr Shahbaz Gill said the government would ensure recoveries from all defaulters, including politicians and bureaucrats.

Answering a question, he said the bureaucrats would also be supposed to pay the outstanding bills but they would be first asked to explain whether they had stayed at Punjab House for some official work or privately. “Even if they stayed for some official work, they were supposed to pay the bills and get those reimbursed from their departments,” the spokesman said, adding that those bureaucrats coming to Islamabad would have been charging TA/DAs.

While announcing the cancellation of illegal allotment of PML-N senators and leaders’ rooms in Punjab House, the chief minister had named three senators — Asif Kirmani, Pervaiz Rasheed and Mushahidullah — for being defaulters of Rs6.496m, Rs9.6m and Rs2m, respectively.

Similarly, former MNA Anusha Rehman owes Rs2.3m, Zubair Gull Rs2.4m and former advocate general Mustafa Ramday Rs3.9m.

The chief minister had also accused former prime minister Nawaz Sharif of spending over Rs10m to entertain his personal guests.

According to the latest comprehensive list, PML-N senator Pervaiz Rasheed owes Rs7.05m, including Rs0.69m charges for his stay from January to August in 2011 and Rs6.4m for his stay between June 2013 and May 2018. His daughter Poonam Rasheed, also a senator, owes Rs2.7m.

Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation Managing Director Chaudhry Kabir owes Rs2.3m, whereas sessions judge Ghaffar Jaleel owes Rs1.3m.

Former attorney general Ashtar Ausaf is supposed to pay Rs0.688m, assistant controller Khurram Rasheed Rs2.2m and MNA Malik Zulfiqar Rs4.1m.

Former Islamabad deputy commissioner Mujahid Sher Dil owes Rs1.3m.

Nabeel Awan, former personal staff officer to the prime minister, is required to pay Rs2.6m, Alamgir Khan owes Rs8.4m, deputy secretary to the chief minister Amir Ghazi Rs0.2m, Senator Ali Amil and Chief Comptroller Aslam Butt Rs0.1m each and Senator Rana Mehmood-ul-Hassan Rs10,000.

For their stay in the Punjab House on PM House recommendation, Khushboo Malik owes Rs2.946m, Moazzam Ali Rs2.92m; assistant comptroller Khurram Rasheed Rs2.21m; Zaheer Abbas Rs2.016m; Maryam Anusha Rs1.94m; Shoaib Mirza Rs1.452m; Fahad Rs1.398m; Saeed Rs1.256m; Alamgir Khan Rs842,000; Nasir Butt Rs494,000; Dr Adnan Rs213,000; Fayyaz Shah Rs430,000; Hanif Rs710,000; Kamran Farid Rs186,000; Riaz-ud-Din Rs142,000; Naveed 118,000; Shakoor (gunman) Rs658,000; Waqar Rs564,000 and Col Saif Rs8,000.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2018