NGOs served with notices for evading audit, PA told

LAHORE
Punjab Assembly was told Tuesday that 40 percent of the total 1,213 Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) of Lahore registered with Punjab Social Department had been issued notices for not holding their annual audit.
Responding to the queries of MPAs in the question hour session which was related with Social Welfare and Baitul Maal, the parliamentary secretary concerned Ilyas Ansari stated that draft of Punjab Child Protection Policy had been finalised and government was involving all stakeholders, including clerics for reviewing the existing law regarding early marriage. The PA session started with a delay of nearly one hour with Speaker Rana Mohammad Iqbal in chair.
Answering a question raised by PTI MPA Dr Nausheen Hamid and a supplementary question by Ahmed Ali Malik of PML-N, Ilyas Ansari told the House that government had planned action against all those NGOs which didn’t hold their annual audit. When asked to share the details of all those NGOs, Ilyas Ansari was unable to provide the list and preferred to rely on the answer which he had received through the secretary of his department sitting in the visitors’ box.
Ahmed Ali Malik, one of the PML-N MPAs who hails from Kasur insisted that House be told that up to which year, did the NGOs registered with Social Welfare Department had conducted audit. However, the parliamentary secretary had no answer and the Speaker had come for his rescue while moving to next question.
Ilyas Ansari, who hails from Faisalabad and has been elected for the first term while defeating former Opposition leader of PA Raja Riaz Ahmed once again had to face a tough time in the hands of Opposition MPAs when one of them, Nabila Hakim asked why an NGO in Sahiwal was awarded more grant as compared to other bodies in the same district. Nabila insisted that while all NGOs were performing same function, why special treatment was being meted out with one specific organisation named Rahimia Welfare Society. However, the parliamentary secretary could not give a satisfactory answer regarding the funding to this specific NGO.
To another question concerning Sahiwal, which was raised by MPA Arshad Malik Advocate, total 10 bodies were working under Social Welfare Department in the district. Arshad Malik also lodged a protest that despite passage of one year and commitment by the minister of the department concerned, no shelter home had been set up in the city. The parliamentary secretary said that Social Welfare Department planned to set up more bodies for women welfare in Sahiwal. Responding to a question raised by Saadia Sohail of PTI regarding steps taken for children welfare and amount spent by the Punjab government in this regard, Ilyas Ansari told PA that with the cooperation of UNICEF, the all-out effort was underway for children welfare. He said in the fiscal year 2013-14, Rs15.62 million were allocated for child protection and welfare and by December 31, 2014, Rs13.84 million of the total allocation had been spent.
Besides, he also said that work on Community Based Child Protection System had also started in cities, including Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan and Rajanpur.