LAHORE, July 2: The Punjab government in violation of service rules has appointed an information group officer as director general of the Environment Protection Department amid allegations that the step is aimed at getting favourable environment assessment reports for some controversial projects.
The chief minister is the appointing authority.
The department service rules say that only an officer qualified in environment sciences with at least seven-year experience in the field can hold the post, which has all decision-making powers.
Interestingly, the service rules, framed in 1997, had been amended in October 2004 by the incumbent government with the stated purpose that only a qualified person could be appointed to the purely technical post as the department had assumed much significance in an environment-conscious world.
The amendment says that in case of initial recruitment or transfer to the BPS-20 post, an officer should be a “PhD in environmental sciences, environmental engineering or having equivalent qualification from a recognised university with seven years of experience in research or management of projects concerning pollution control, relating to air, noise, water, solid and hazardous wastes, etc., pollution.”
But, the government was now violating the rules by appointing Kamran Ali Khan, an information group officer, who had neither relevant education nor the required experience, a department officer said requesting anonymity.
The posting has also caused heartburning among senior officers serving the department for the last many years.
Around eight officers, including a director, and a couple of deputy directors, having degrees and training in environment engineering, chemistry etc, have lost the chance to promotion with the induction of an “outsider” into the department.
“We are being ignored for the post despite having relevant qualification because we don’t have a proper channel to approach the authorities that matter,” commented an affected officer.
Mr Khan would retire after just eight months and the period was too short to grasp the technicalities involved with the post, especially when he had no relevant background and education, they argued.
Some of them allege that a non-technical officer has been inducted into the department to secure approval for some controversial projects, both in the public and private sectors. These projects include Lahore Canal Road widening, cement plants in Chakwal, and some sugar mills in cotton growing area, they claim.
The new sugar mills are being established in Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur districts where they will not only cause water shortage as sugarcane crop needs plenty of water but also affect cotton and mango crops because of the humidity caused by the cane crop, they say.
The Punjab government had lifted ban on establishment of the mills in the area in July last year.
A couple of federal ministers, their kins and a man known for his relations with the ruler of a Gulf state are partners in the proposed sugar mills.