VC nazims reject embezzlement allegation against official

CHITRAL: Hours after a group of PTI youth activists alleged embezzlement in the purchase of environment-friendly shopping bags and dustbins for village councils by a government official, All Village Council Nazmeen Forum held a press conference and rejected the allegations.

They termed the allegations against local government department assistant director Fahim Jalal a pack of lies and based on personal grudge and unfounded.

Village nazims Naveed Ahmed Baig, Hayatur Rehman, Sher Azam, Muhammad Baseer,  Sultan Muhammad Sher, Pervez Lal, Minhajuddin, Nisar Ahmed and M. Zaheeruddin Babar at the presser explained that the purchase of the shopping bags and dustbins had been made at the village council level.

This was done under the relevant rules after obtaining quotations and the payments were made through cheques, they added.

The nazims said the allegation that Fahim Jalal had collected Rs160,000 from each village council nazim was absolutely wrong and baseless.

They said former deputy commissioner Irshad Ahmed Sodhar had launched a clean and green campaign in Chitral in collaboration with the village councils during which the nazims had arranged environment-friendly dustbins and shopping bags in their areas.

The drive was inaugurated by PTI chairman Imran Khan and the then chief minister KP Pervez Khattak. They had appreciated the drive and announced to introduce it in other parts of the province as a model.

The nazims also said funds allocated to village councils were spent in a transparent manner and following all rules and the government had recently carried out a three-year audit of the accounts, so there was no question of embezzlement in any fund.

They said Muhammad Haroon, one of the PTI activists who alleged embezzlement in the village council funds, should first give account of the Rs1.4 million he had received from the tourism department for the establishment of a tourist facilitation centre in Chitral. There is no tourist facilitation centre in Chitral, they said.

The nazims also said they would be serving a legal notice on the activists for levelling unfounded allegations against an honest government official.

 

Reporting: Syed Nazir Hussain Shah