Government of Balochistan, after unearthing of some mega corruption scandals, has come under serious allegations. Every citizen living in Balochistan is informally aware of the corruption and corrupt practices. The Provincial Government instead of waiting for the NAB, FIA and Anti Corruption should seriously initiate a drive through which it not only finds out the areas in which corruption has deep roots and also evolve some modalities for the improvement.
A ruthless action is required against the elements that are not only corrupt but involved in corrupt practices. But it could not be done by the system itself. The Government should hire either retired people or from the open market and some commission or committee may be constituted which should review the whole system and point out the areas which provide the chances of corruption to the system.
Similarly the system through which development schemes are processed and executed may also be reviewed and shortcomings or loop holes may be rectified through improvisation of the system. In the present case PSDP is prepared by ignoring the departmental proposals and suggestions of the political elite are always preferred. For the last couple of decades from Secretary to Naib Qasid and from Commissioner to Patwari all postings are being done on the recommendations and wishes of political people. In this case all decisions and actions are politicized and ignore the interest of state or a common man. Unfortunately a common man has to struggle for movement of his file while influential’s always get priority.
In good old days a government servant serving in far flung area if ever applied for earned leave he had just hand over his application to his immediate boss and in due course of time received the decision on his application but unfortunately in present days he has to be after his application and take decision otherwise he will not get any response which speaks of the inefficiency of the system.
Similarly, in case of development schemes the senior level officers hardly supervise the executions and they have made their offices non functional and restricted themselves for receiving the share from commission. Nobody bothers to visit the sites and analyze execution through technical point of view including standard of work as XENs and SDOs get posted through the recommendations of political elite. This proposed commission or committee may also review and enhance their role as well.
If government does not take any steps hurriedly the corruption will remain continued and for quite some time it will be minimized and after that will come back to its routine. Moreover, career planning is an element which is badly missing in all cadres. One blue eyed officer gets good postings one after the others but others will not be given equal opportunities. So the system should ensure equal opportunities to all cadres. There is still large number of officers who are competent and honest but they are not likened by the bosses being blamed rigid and inefficient because they are considered not to be a part of corrupt system.
Government setup also has Chief Minister Inspection Team (CMIT) which otherwise would have been an effective tool as it is headed by a B-21 officer and 5 to 6 Officers of B-20 as its members. Now CMIT has been declared as an Administrative Department of the Provincial Government and it has to submit his findings to CM through summaries which are as per routine sent to S&GAD from where it goes to Inquiry Wing of S&GAD. Truly speaking practically the CMIT has been working as a subordinate to this wing. Prior to declaring it as an administrative department it was directly submitting its reports to Chief Executive of the Province.
Moreover there is lack of any legal frame work through which government departments are bound to provide required record to CMIT and it remains in waiting for months for any information required from any quarter. Similarly it’s the discretion of the government to take any action on any recommendations. During Dr. Malik regime it was in principle agreed that government would ensure third party validation through CMIT, of those development schemes where cost exceeds from a specific limit. It was also agreed that a special percentage in all schemes would be earmarked for third party validation which would be transferred to CMIT. Then CMIT would again arrange third party validation through its members and in case of a specific limit is exceeded then it would outsource.
But unfortunately this could not be made functional due to Luke warm response of Planning & Development department. During tenure of its last Chairman a draft for legislation of an act was prepared to constitute CMIT under an act and certain legal provisions were also provided to make it more effective but no progress could be achieved due to lack of interest from relevant quarters. Last but not least the CMIT now enjoys a reputation of a dumping space for disliked officers and only those officers willingly opt for posting in CMIT who are near retirement only for certain monetary and pension benefits.
Writer is a former bureaucrat.
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