Seven MDs of Wasa changed in two years

LAHORE:Since coming in power, the present government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has appointed seven managing directors instead of a regular head to run the affairs of Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC).

Sources in Local Government Department said that LWMC is the biggest waste management company in Punjab and repeated removal of its managing directors has hampered the performance of the company a lot.

In the previous regime, Bilal Mustafa Syed was posted as LWMC MD in May 2016 and he continued till May 2018. After his removal, the then GM Operations Nusrat Gill was given additional charge of the post of MD in May 2018 but he continued his services as MD just for one month and was transferred in June 2018.

Farrukh Qayyum Butt, the then GM HR, was appointed MD of LWMC on acting charge in July 2018 and he continued till January 2019 after which Khalid Nazeer Watto was appointed as MD of LWMC in January 2019. Watto served as MD till July 2019 and was replaced by Muhammad Ajmal Bhatti in July 2019 who was transferred in October 2019. Both Khalid Watto and Ajmal Bhatti were also posted as MD on additional charge.

In October 2019, the Punjab government posted Rao Imtiaz as a regular MD for the company but he was transferred to his parent department in May 2020. He served as MD for seven months only.

After the transfer of Rao Imtiaz, Punjab government brought in another senior official Muhammad Aslam Roa as a regular MD in May 2020 but, unfortunately, he was removed from the seat just in two months, July 2020, and a junior official, Dr Shahzaib Hasnain, was posted as MD on additional charge.

Dr Shahzaib Hasnain, though a junior official, worked very hard during Eid days and managed to clear the City of waste. Dr Shahzaib Hasnain is a deputy secretary in Local Government Department. He spend half day in his parent department and then he comes to LWMC.

LWMC officials said that a regular MD is needed to run the company in true spirit. They claimed that repeated transfers of MDs in the last two days badly hampered the company which is under debt of Rs 53 billion.

When contacted, Provincial Secretary Local Government Javed Qazi said that he totally agreed that the company needs a regular MD. “LWMC is the biggest waste management company in Punjab and we completely understand the difficulties and problems, which the company is facing due to the absence of a regular MD,” he said.

Lahore is the provincial metropolis and waste management was an essential service, he said adding the government is trying to provide best services in Lahore due to its importance and sensitivity.

“I personally met with the chief secretary Punjab in this regard and requested him to post a suitable officer as a regular MD in LWMC,” Qazi said and concluded that the chief secretary has interviewed several officers for the post and a new regular MD for the company will be appointed in a couple of days.