In guise of common man: CM suspends staff at DC Office for overcharging

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan paid a surprise visit to Deputy Commissioner Office Peshawar on Monday.

An official handout said the chief minister entered the arms license branch of the office in the guise of a common man, stood in a queue with other visitors and silently observed things going on there.

He caught red-handed the staff of the license branch while overcharging the applicants for processing arm license applications. The staff of the arms license branch was charging Rs 1000 per applicants instead of the prescribed Rs 350 per applicant as the license fee.

The chief minister ordered the immediate suspension of the entire staff along with the in-charge of the branch. He ordered a thorough inquiry into the overcharging and sought a detailed report within three days. Besides the in-charge of the license branch Zardad Khan other suspended staff included Shahid Khan, Kaleemullah, Adil Khan, Noor Muhammad, Mustafa and Huma Maqsood of the branch.

The chief minister ordered the suspension of the security personnel deputed in the license branch over negligence in duties. He expressed dissatisfaction at the overall administration, security situation and non-compliance of corona standard operating procedures in the DC Office and issued a warning to the deputy commissioner to improve the overall administration of the office.

While talking on this occasion, the chief minister made it clear that there is zero-tolerance for corruption and malpractices and any government official found involved any such practices would be dealt with an iron hand. He said service delivery to the citizen in a transparent matter was one of the focused areas of the good governance strategy of the KP government which would not be compromised at any cost, adding that there was no room for any kind of laxity and negligence on the part of the government officials in this regard.