KHANEWAL, Sept 2: The district administration has failed to get a local government rest house vacated from a clerk to set up the office of the community organisation DO in that building, Dawn has learnt.

The clerk is posted at the office of revenue EDO and was allotted this rest house by a former DCO allegedly on political pressure exerted by local PML-Q bigwigs around a year ago. But now he has refused to vacate the building despite several eviction notices issued by the revenue EDO in past two months.

Sources told Dawn that despite many offices of the district government had been shifted to a complex, the community organisations DO was yet to be provided any spacious office.

The community development department asked the district administration to set up DO’s office temporarily at the local government rest house near city police station.

Sources said as the rest house was occupied by a clerk, Afzal Dawana, the community development EDO sent a letter to DCO Qazi Muhammad Ashfaq to get the rest house vacated.

According to sources, the DCO ordered the revenue EDO to get the rest house vacated from the clerk about two months ago.

Revenue EDO Abdul Rashid Razi sent six notices to the clerk, but Dawana remained adamant and rather managed silencing the EDO and other officials allegedly by exerting political pressure.

Dawana has spent a significant portion of his service at the office of community development EDO where he allegedly indulged in corrupt practices while dealing with financial affairs of the citizen community boards.

The sitting DCO transferred him from the office of community development EDO to the office of revenue EDO after receiving numerous complaints from general public.

Community organisation DO Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor bemoaned that he was provided with a cramped office to cater to a large number of visitors from 100 union councils across the district on a daily-basis.

The DCO confirmed that his predecessor had allotted this rest house to Dawana. He said that revenue EDO was an efficient officer and would get the rest house vacated soon.

EDO Razi said that Dawana had illegally occupied the rest house. “He is neither authorised nor entitled to get such a spacious house allotted,” Razi added.

He said Dawana had occupied the rest house by using his influence and the current administration was forcing him to vacate the premises at the earliest.

The EDO, however, denied that he was being pressed by anyone. But, at the same time, he admitted that he did not pursue the eviction emphatically. “Now I will take up this matter personally and get the rest house vacated soon,” he added.—Khalid Hasnain