ISLAMABAD: Death threats are being hurled at the officers and their families, who have highlighted corruption involving billions of rupees in the funds doled out by ex-prime ministers Yusaf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf during the past five years to lawmakers for ‘development schemes’ under the ‘Discretionary Funds’. According to the documents, Lahore PWD office has found that upon inspection of the documents and sites, corruption of Rs500m was observed in development schemes of Lahore, Gujrat, Nankana Sahib, Gujranwala and Sheikhupura. Un-authorised payments of Rs470m were released by the executive engineer, assistant executive engineer and sub-engineer.
Court orders local polls
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court yesterday ruled that all the provincial governments as well as the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) should make efforts to hold the local bodies elections across the country close to September 15, 2013 after promulgating the relevant laws. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Jawad S Khawaja and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, heard the case pertaining to the law and order situation in Balochistan. The court directed all the provincial governments and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) to complete the process of amending the relevant laws for ensuring holding of local bodies elections in the country.
Power generator imports drop
KARACHI: Imports of power generating machines fell by six per cent in 2012-2013 despite the fact that the country remained in the grip of intense power crisis. Generator’s import declined to $977m in 2012-2013 as compared to $1.039bn in same period in the last fiscal year, down by six percent. June 2013 generator imports also dropped to $76m from $83m in May 2013 and $89m in June 2012, figures of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics revealed. Pakistan Machinery Merchant Group President Khurram Saigol linked fall in generator imports to falling purchasing power caused by increase in prices, business environment and rupee devaluation against the dollar, making imports more costly. He said generator’s price had risen by at least 20 percent in the last one year due to depreciation of rupee against the dollar and increase in GST by one percent.
Agencies
