LAHORE: The Punjab government on Thursday removed Lahore Waste Management Company’s (LWMC’s) board of directors (BoDs) chairman Chaudhry Aatif Chaudhry and replaced him with Khwaja Ahmad Hassaan.

According to a notification issued by the Local Government & Community Development Department Secretary on Thursday, Mr Chaudhry, besides the chairman, has also been denotified from the position of BoD’s executive independent director.

An official, requesting anonymity, told Dawn on Thursday Mr Chaudhry would create troubles in the way of smooth cleanliness operations of the company by appointing various coordinators. He is accused of demanding money from officials through coordinators and relatives.

In April, Mr Chaudhry wrote to the local government department secretary for an inquiry on various issues. Prior to this letter, the LWMC chief executive officer wrote to the chairman against his coordinators for deteriorating the working environment in various departments by intervening unlawfully into various important affairs.

When contacted, the outgoing chairman called his removal as politically motivated and nothing more of this.

“Actually I, through my coordinators, caught corruption related to vehicles’ maintenance, trips and absence of field workers from duty. When I did this, I faced resistance from the officers and officials,” he claimed.

When asked about harassing the staff and alleged demand of money from the officials allegedly by his brother or the coordinators, he dispelled the impression stating that the man, against whom this complaint was, was not his brother but a distant relative. “When I received this complaint, I immediately removed him from the job,” he maintained.

He said he had concrete evidence of corruption he and his coordinators caught.

“That is why on such complaint also requested the secretary for a thorough probe. I would also explain all this in my press conference soon after my return from London within the next couple of days,” Mr Chaudhry explained.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2022