KARACHI:
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sindh Assembly has ordered the immediate dispossession of the women’s hostels occupied by government officials, including DIGs, DC, and education officers.
The Women Development Department (WDD) has set up 11 hostels for working women in different districts of the province. However, the government officials have reportedly set up their offices in these hostels.
The issue was raised during a PAC meeting on March 26, chaired by Nisar Khuhro and attended by PAC member Qasim Siraj Soomro, WDD Secretary Abdul Rasheed Zardari, and relevant departmental officials. The committee was reviewing audit objections related to the WDD’s fiscal expenditures for the years 2019 and 2020, during which the matter of unauthorised office occupations in women’s hostels came up for discussion.
The WDD secretary informed the PAC that despite the hostels being intended for the accommodation of working women, various officials, including Sukkur’s SC, have established their offices in these facilities. The DC’s office has been set up in the Women Development Complex in Sukkur, while a DIG has occupied a women’s hostel in Nawabshah. Similar encroachments have been reported in other districts. The PAC chairman, taking serious notice of these violations, ordered the immediate removal of all unauthorised offices and officials from the women’s hostels across Sindh. He stressed the importance of restoring control of these facilities to the Women Development Department for their intended purpose.
Further scrutiny by the PAC revealed concerns over the expenditure of Rs273 million on the Working Women Hostel in Shaheed Benazirabad, the Women Development Complex in Sukkur, and various other women’s development projects. The committee also called for an investigation into the acquisition of land for the Women’s Complex in Sukkur, questioning why private land was purchased instead of acquiring government land, which led to an additional cost of Rs210 million for its construction
News published in the Express Tribune on 27th March 2025