ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: The National Assembly's standing committee on planning and development criticized the environment ministry for not monitoring the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working for the preservation of environment.

The NA committee was presided over by Sardar Bahadur Khan here at the Parliament House on Tuesday. The participants of the committee noted that since 1993, Rs4,000 million has been spent for the preservation of environment.

It criticized the ministry for not taking such a huge task seriously, as what it said many NGOs, both at national and provincial level, kept on getting funds just for doing nothing.

The committee said it was failure on the part of the ministry that there was no audit of the funding received by the NGOs. It also observed that despite huge funds being pumped in by donors and the fanfare and extravagant propaganda in media, there was little to be seen on ground.

They were also furious over the absence of environment secretary in the meeting and directed the officers present on occasion to come to the meeting with full preparations. The committee also told the ministry to formulate monitoring, evaluation and auditing system in order to see how the money meant for this purpose was being spent.

Among those, who participated in the meeting included MNAs Rehman Naseer Chaudhry, Brig (retired) Zulfiqar Ahmad Dhillon, Chaudhry Bilal Ejaz, Amjad Warraich, Muhammad Hussain Mehanti, Hakim Qari Gul Rehman, Razia Aziz and Hizbullah Bughio.