KARACHI, Jan 29: Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) leaders have criticised the Sindh Education Department for awarding contract to the Oxford University Press for the publication of English-to-Sindhi and English-to-Urdu dictionaries and termed the decision a wastage of precious government funds.

In a joint statement released on Monday, SPLA leaders Prof Syed Riaz Ahsan, Prof Liaquat Aziz, Prof Manzoor Hussain Chishti, Prof Athar Hussain Mirza and Prof Iftikhar Mohammad Azami said that the price of the proposed dictionary had been fixed at Rs115 while the Sindh Text Book Board could publish it at Rs60 only.

They alleged that the Sindh education minister had visited India last year on the expenses of the OUP, adding that “awarding of the contract was a return of these tour expenses''.

The SPLA leaders asked Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Chief Secretary Fazalur Rehman to investigate the matter and stop the misuse of precious government funds by awarding contract to a foreign private firm, while such facilities were present in the Sindh Textbook Board. — PPI