NGO doles out costly equipment to govt depts
CHITRAL, Oct 3: A non-governmental organization (NGO) provided office equipment and machinery to different government departments in Chitral ostensibly to improve their working to facilitate the local citizens.
However, some representatives of local support organizations (LSOs) while talking to this correspondent at a function held to distribute the equipment objected that the NGO had also handed a number of equipment, including computers, to the C&W department which was a rich department and earned millions of rupees. They said these items should have been provided to the local support organizations who worked on a volunteer basis for betterment of the poor people.
The function was organized by Chitral Integrated Area Development Program (CIADP).
Speaking as chief guest at the ceremony, Deputy Commissioner Chitral Mohammad Soaib Jadoon said: “We can enhance and improve our capacity and efficiency not only by using latest equipment and machinery but also through commitment, dedication, honesty and determination.” He hailed the role of civil society for working shoulder-to-shoulder with the government departments.
Azar Ayaz, the managing director of Thrive, said they had been working with the district government as well as the local support organizations for improvement and betterment of life in Chitral. “We have already provided computers, printers, photocopiers, fax machines, UPS and scanners worth 3.8 million rupees to the health, education and finance departments as well as the DC office.” He said 27 computers, 18 printers, 23 UPS, 10 stabilizers, six photocopiers (multipurpose photostat machines), five fax machines, six scanners, one monitor and seven wireless access point (Wi Fi) were given to the agriculture, agri-engineering, social welfare, livestock, communication and works, public health and revenue departments on Thursday. The cost of these items was Rs5.407 million. He asked the representatives of the line departments to utilize these equipment in a judicious manner to provide relief to the local community.—Gul Hamaad Farooqui]]>
The DC’s Slip
Reading the news item published in your newspaper under the heading “NGO doles out computers to govt depts” published today, I wonder whether what the Deputy Commissioner said was a slip of the tongue. If the records are correct, the firm cited in this report giving out the computers is described as a civil society organization. It may be. But in the context of this project it is a management firm selected to help the district government in implementing a project which was supposed to be a governance project run by the district government. When conceived the District Nazim was the head of this project with the a Steering Committee under him to maintain oversight over it. Once the Nazims were gone the Deputy Commissioner became head of this project steering committee. If the Deputy Commissioner is describing a project run under him as civil society its very very confusing. Its a firm which is there to assist him. I think the confusion is a serious issue. This project was a over one billion rupees project. The oversight responsibility was the Deputy Commissioners like in all NGOs the responsibility over a project is that of their Board of Directors. But if everyone connected with this project has forgotten their roles and no one owns it its an odd situation. I think its time the Deputy Commissioner makes the design of the project, the role of the steering committee and the different decisions reached in its meetings public under the Information Act. This is important because either everyone has been taken for a ride or we all know the institutional mechanisms for a governance project that was all in the name of chitral and settle the confusion.