SUKKUR: Caretaker Minister for Local Government Mubeen Jumani has remarked that almost all provincial departments are plagued by corruption.

He was speaking to the media at Jumani House in Kot Diji, Khairpur, during his visit to the area to look into public complaints of misappropriation of funds.

“Corruption is a menace; it’s found common in almost every department,” he said, adding he would try his best to control 30 to 40 per cent corruption in the LG given the short tenure of the caretaker set-up.

The funds meant for public welfare were being embezzled in the name of salaries, he observed.

Vows to initiate action against ‘builder mafia’, officials facilitating illegal construction

He wished he could take action against those powerful bureaucrats whose “envelopes work” and replace them with honest officials.

In reply to a question about crackdown on power thieves, the minister said it would be better to “catch five big industrialists instead of going after 500 consumers drawing electricity through hooks (kundas)” and described the industrialists using illegal connections as ‘big crocodiles’ in terms of power theft. Catching these big crocodiles would result in heavier recoveries than from small kunda users, he explained.

Mr Jumani told local reporters that he had embarked on a visit to different areas of the interior of Sindh to inspect the ongoing development work in Sukkur, Khairpur, Larkana and other cities.

The LG minister presided over a meeting of officials at the Sukkur DC office in Sukkur.

Later, Speaking to the media, Mr Jumani said that like in Karachi, “a builder mafia is involved in illegal construction of multi-storey buildings in Sukkur”. He noted that officials of different departments, in collision with the ‘builder mafia’, had been issuing NOCs for such constructions even in densely populated areas. He pointed out that more than 300 big and small buildings had either been demolished or got evacuated in Karachi for having been raised illegally. Similar action would be taken in Sukkur, as well, he said.

The minister revealed that inquiries were being initiated against officials of all departments as well as builders. Action would be taken against them soon, he added. He said that officials of the Sindh Building Control Authority and water and gas utilities were often found involved in corruption. Otherwise, he said, plazas in narrow streets and or congested roads might not have been built.

“We have expedited work on such buildings … illegally raised buildings were being sealed,” he said.

He declared that no official found involved in corruption would be spared.

“In the LG department, we are going to introduce bio-matric and online salaries system to ensure checks and balances,” the minister said.

The minister noted that the Sukkur Municipal Corporation had a large number of workers but most of them did not work and ultimately, the workload fell on daily wage earners.

He said that there were many problems in the city such as open manholes and unavailability drinking water. “We are working to resolve the issues being faced by the general public in Sukkur city,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2023