Irregularities Spotted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa EPA
EPA Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has not completed the projects in the given time but showed them finished in the record books
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) started various projects to create awareness to alleviate hazards of pollution but it has failed to retrieve the purpose they were initiated for.
One of the projects among those is the Activity Based Capacity Building (ABCB) of EPA for which the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had allocated more than Rs 90 million.
The environmental protection department even spent the allocated amount on the project but to no avail as ABCB has failed to produce the desired results.
Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) mentioned in his report that the project was included in the fiscal year 2020-21.
However, all of the employees hired for the project were expelled by the government, the report stated.
The organization of workshops and seminars to create awareness among the masses regarding environmental protection as part of the project along with visits to educational institutions to sensitize the students for the same purpose.
The report identified that some Rs 70.45 million were spent on Activity-Based Capacity Building of EPA until June this year and an incomplete project was declared complete in the official record.
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The AGP’s report cited that the complete cost of the project was Rs 90.71 million and it was supposed to be finished by June 2020.
Further, the report of AGP identified that the EPA Director General (DG) designated powers to directors in Dera Ismail Khan and Malaknad regions for inspection of initial environmental examination (IEE) which was illegal.
The report highlighted that the powers could not be designated to the regional directors as per the Environmental Protection Act.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has vowed to make the country green to mitigate environmental pollution and the government has launched the Ten Billion tree project.
However, the AGP report manifests that the PTI government is KP did not take the premier’s directions seriously.
