CHITRAL: The government contractors in Chitral have accused the tehsil officer infrastructure, Chitral TMA, of corruption and demanded stern action against him.

Addressing a press conference, senior vice-president of government contractors association Javed Akhtar said the official openly demanded illegal gratifications from the contractors for processing their bills. Flanked by contractors Taj Rasool, Rahmat Ayaz, Fazal Hadi, Saifur Rahman, Jahan Zeb and others, Mr Akhtar said that claiming to be one of the close friends of Kamran Bangesh, the special assistant to the chief minister on local government, the TMA officer had crossed all limits of immorality and law to mint money from the contractors.

He alleged that some contractors were in league with the tehsil officer in causing losses to the exchequer.

Mr Akhtar alleged that the officer did not bother to visit the construction sites and prepared bills without checking quality of work. He said the official insulted the contractors who insisted on site inspections.

He said to dole out contracts to his blue-eyed contractors, the tehsil officer created hurdles for the other contractors by imposing arbitrary rules in violation of the procurement rules.

He said the TMA officer had been debarred from entering TMA Mastuj premises last year by then tehsil nazim Maulana Mohammad Yousuf when complaints of misbehaviour and corruption by the contractors and the general public surfaced.

The contractors’ body head said in the absence of local bodies, the officer had started his activities again, thus affecting the development works in this backward area.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2020