close
Thursday March 28, 2024

Banni Gala favourite set to become Pedo chief

PESHAWAR: A man recommended by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership is set to be appointed as chief executive officer (CEO) of the restructured Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo), while the bureaucracy is diligently delaying the summary for the appointment of brother of one of the party’s Member Provincial Assembly (MPA)

By Riaz Khan Daudzai
February 15, 2015
PESHAWAR: A man recommended by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership is set to be appointed as chief executive officer (CEO) of the restructured Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo), while the bureaucracy is diligently delaying the summary for the appointment of brother of one of the party’s Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) despite the directives of the chief minister.
The newly formed board of directors (BoD) will meet on February 17 for a final decision on the matter. But insiders told The News that the candidate recommended by ‘Banigala’ is being tipped as CEO of Pedo.
They said the board will also decide the fate of Arbab Khudadad Khan, superintending engineer (SE BS-19) of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) and brother PTI MPA Arbab Jahandad Khan. He was recommended by the chief minister for the post of general manager Pedo, which is BPS-20-21 post.
The Pedo BoD, that is led by a chairman hailing from Karachi, Tariq Iqbal, also includes secretary Power and Energy, secretary Finance and secretary Home and Tribal
Affairs as government members.
Ghulam Sarwar Khan Mohmand, Nauman Wazir, Shahid Sattar and Rohail of the Engro Corporation are its private sector members. The CEO of Pedo is secretary of the board.
The sources said Akbar Ayub, a former employee of the Engro Corporation, which was headed in the recent past by PTI leader Asad Umar as CEO, has already been selected to lead Pedo as CEO.
They claimed the selection of Akbar Ayub was finalized at the 5th meeting of the BoD held on December 10, 2014 with the initial monthly salary of Rs1.5 million after Asad Umar recommended him to the BoD for the top slot of the organization.
They said at least for fulfilling the formality, the panel of three candidates for appointment of the CEO of Pedo includes two other candidates along with Akbar Ayub for
submission to the chief minister.
The panel, the sources said, also includes a former executive director of the Bank of Khyber and ex-CEO of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade (KPBOIT) Mir Javed Hashmat and Bahadur Shah, the incumbent General Manager Hydel of Pedo.
Bahadur Shah also headed as managing director the erstwhile Sarhad Hydel Development Organisation (Shydo), which has been restructured as Pedo.
When contacted for his comments, Asad Umar denied his role in the selection of any official of the Pedo. “I have absolutely nothing to do with the appointment of the Pedo CEO,” he said.
“Ask anybody. I even did not phone any of the board members or any official for that matter in the province during the entire process of
the CEO’s selection,” he asserted.
“Yes, what I have done was to ask the province to expedite the process of appointment and provision of the manpower for the organization as it was badly affecting our power generation and development agenda in the province,” Asad Umar maintained.
About his links with Akbar Ayub, the PTI leader said, “I was CEO and he (Akbar) was a junior officer working somewhere in the organisation (Engro). And I hardly knew him”.
Nauman Wazir, a private member of the Pedo BoD, said no pressure was exerted for the CEO selection process from any quarter. The board interviewed 15 shortlisted candidates and selected three among them for the post, he added.
Sources at the Chief Minster Secretariat, meanwhile, said the bureaucracy was ignoring the directives of the chief minster to submit the summary for appointment of Engineer Khudadad Khan against one of the three vacant posts of general managers in the Pedo on deputation.
They said as rules for appointment of the general managers are yet to be framed by Pedo BoD and posts have not been properly advertised.
The Establishment Department is diligently ignoring the verbal directives of the chief minister to buy time at least till the next meeting of the board scheduled for February 17, they added.
The Pedo board is also likely to take decision on the appointment of the general managers of the organization in its forthcoming meeting to avert any probable standoff between the chief minister and bureaucracy in the matter.