LAHORE: In a bid to assist the election commission in holding free, fair and transparent elections in Punjab by ending possible influences of anyone through exercise of power or authority, the caretaker Punjab government on Monday abolished board of directors (BoDs) of all public sector companies regulated by the Local Government & Community Development Department.

Through a notification issued on Monday, the department dissolved the BoD of Lahore Waste Management Company that was being headed by Mr Aatif Chaudhry with members - Ms Rizwana Iqtedar, Syed Raeesuddin Ahmad, Safdar Shaheen Pirzada, Abdul Kareem Khan, Basharat Ali and Karamatullah Chaudhry.

The BoDs of the Gujranwala, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Gujrat waste management companies were also dissolved. The BoDs of Punjab Cattle Market Management & Development Company and Punjab Shehr-e-Khamoshan Authority were also abolished.

“It was necessary to do so since the BoDs of the aforementioned companies/authorities deal with a huge number of employees to whom they may influence to vote to some favourite political parties. These boards were also dissolved when Parvez Elahi took over the province after ending of Hamza Shehbaz’s government,” an official source told Dawn.

He said the boards/authorities of development authorities including LDA, Parks and Horticulture Authority, Lahore Parking Company and other public sector entities regulated by various departments are also likely to be dissolved in coming days.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2023