Ex-minister seeks probe into land allotment for Swat resort

PESHAWAR: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Khwaja Mohammad Khan Hoti has demanded an investigation into the allotment of 258 acres land of the Forest Department in Malam Jaba, Swat to a Rawalpindi-based company for the construction of a resort.

Talking to The News here on Sunday, Khwaja Hoti alleged that another contract of Rs1billion of Mardan Municipal Committee’s sanitation had been allotted to the relative of a provincial minister.

“It is astonishing that the entire staff of Mardan Municipal Committee would be performing duties, but Rs1 billion from the national exchequer would be given to a private person,” he claimed.

He said that investigation into the projects would reveal the hollow slogans of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rulers. Both the contracts, he said, had been awarded without following rules and regulations.

The PPP leader also demanded probe to find out how the contract worth billions of rupees for purchase of furniture for schools and colleges was finalised.

He argued that the investigations would also reveal how many ministers had purchased and constructed huge properties beyond their known sources of income. 

Khwaja Hoti, who is a former federal minister, said the PTI rulers failed to initiate any mega project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but installed nameplates on the projects initiated by former chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti.

He posed a question as to how many dams were constructed to overcome electricity crisis or industries were set up to reduce unemployment and poverty in the province.

The PPP leader asked PTI chief Imran Khan to probe how many government jobs were sold, particularly in Mardan, before making tall claims of merit and ending corruption.

“Imran should first expel corrupt ministers from the provincial cabinet. More than 30 people lost their lives and about 3,500 were affected by dengue in Peshawar, Mardan and Swabi but the concerned authorities are enjoying life in Galiyat and have left their people in the lurch,” he added.

He invited health experts and media from Punjab and Sindh to visit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to observe the real situation of the government hospitals, schools, police stations and revenue departments. He said that people were still running from pillar to post for solution og minor problems in various government departments.  

He said that he would organise walks in various parts of the country to expose what he called double-standards of the rulers.

He said he would quit politics if the PTI leaders managed to form the next provincial government.

“Before Pervez Khattak, former chief ministers Ameer Haider Hoti and Akram Khan Durrani used to claim to form the next governments, but they failed to do so,” he recalled.

Khwaja Hoti demanded probe against a provincial minister for striking deal between corrupt people and provincial accountability commission.

Without naming him, he said that the provincial minister first informed a person about the “charges” against him and later he himself struck a deal for him to get his own “share”.