RAJANPUR:SDO Public Health engineering department was among four officials named in a case registered with police citing charges of negligence after a minor girl fell into an uncovered manhole and died few days back in city area of tahsil Jampur, district Rajanpur.
Action was taken on the orders of Chief Secretary Punjab Zahid Akhtar Zaman after commissioner Dr. Nasir Mahmood Bashir sent an incident report to him after personally paying a visit to the site of the June 21 incident, commissioner said in a statement on Monday.
The officers and officials named in the FIR included SDO Public Health Engineering (PHE) Muhammad Safdar, sub engineer PHE Mahar Tanweer Ahmad, chief officer municipal committee Jampur Musarrat Abbas, and sanitary inspector municipal committee Zafar Iqbal Gadara. It may be noted that sanitary inspector Zafar Iqbal Gadara, now named as accused, was earlier a complainant as he had got a case registered regarding the same incident against contractor Mahar Muhammad Yousuf on June 22, 2023, just a day after the death of the minor girl, under sections 322 PPC with PS Jampur city. When contacted, police officials said, a new FIR has been registered against the officials cited in the report.
Six year old Zoya Bibi d/o Awais Mastoi, a poor man of Shah Jamal colony, was returning to home from school when she fell down in the uncovered manhole on June 21. Her family kept searching for her and later found her body from inside the manhole, which according to the residents, was uncovered for the last six months. Sources said, it was a newly build sewerage scheme completed by PHE department and officials wanted to hand it over to municipal committee (MC), however, MC officials were reluctant to take over citing quality concerns.
Commissioner DG Khan Dr. Nasir Mahmood Bashir said in the statement that he himself visited the site immediately after noticing the incident and prepared a detailed report that was sent to the chief secretary Punjab. Officials would face strict action as per law, commissioner said adding that orders have also been issued for departmental action against the officials under Peeda Act.
Commissioner said, he was deeply hurt inside on the death of the six years old minor girl and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family i,e Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act 2006.