PAC directs OPF to hold inquiry

ISLAMABAD: Ordering an inquiry, the Public Accounts Committee has sought a report from the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation within a month for alleged violation of rules while awarding a security contract of its premises.

In a meeting under the chair of Rana Tanveer Hussain, the committee examined the audit para relating to the ministry of overseas Pakistanis for the year 2019-20. The audit officials apprised the committee that the contract for security of head office, schools and colonies had been awarded by OPF against the rules.

Upon which, the chairman of the committee said that it had been decided in the DAC that OPF would present the inquiry report before the committee. He directed the officials of the OPF to abide by the decision made in DAC meeting and conduct an inquiry for submitting a report within a month.

Briefing the PAC, the officials of the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation said the foundation have 26 schools in various parts of the country, including the twin cities, Punjab and KP, where as many as 20,000 students are enrolled. They said that the teachers in those schools had demanded a raise of 10 percent in their salaries that was granted.

Expressing the surprise, the chairman PAC remarked that the committee was told that teachers’ salaries had not been raised for last three years. The OPF officials replied that the teachers’ salaries were increased on yearly basis in routine.

Khawaja Asif, a member of the committee, said that Sialkot was second in terms of overseas votes but there were less educational institutions in Sialkot as compared to Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The MD OPF said that in the last 40 years, “our educational institutions were built on political grounds rather than giving a consideration to the proportion of overseas Pakistanis in the respective areas.

Highlighting the problems faced by the overseas Pakistanis, the committee member Manaza Hassan said those overseas Pakistanis, who have returned, have been facing difficulties in buying a car and opening a bank account.

The committee member Senator Talha Mahmood said it takes considerable time for people returning from abroad to file tax returns; therefore, the matter should be discussed with the FBR. PAC member Sheikh Rohail Asghar left the committee meeting in protest as he was not allowed to speak during the meeting.