Rs30m drilling machinery rusts in Peshawar

Dawn.Com

Heavy drilling machinery worth millions of rupees has got rusted as it has been lying useless at the Peshawar Circle office of public health engineering department for more than a decade, according to sources. They said that the machinery costing Rs30 million was donated by foreign donors to the tubewell division, a former wing of public health engineering established in 1977, to sink tubewells in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “It includes 10 drilling machines installed on trucks, six air compressors and other tools being used in drilling,” sources said, adding there were more than 100 employees in the division including engineers, support staff and drivers. Official said that the division was established when government was drilling tubewells in rocky areas as private contractors at that time had no capacity to drill the hard soil in such areas. “In 1977, it was state of the art technology,” they added. The division was enabled to drill 1,000 feet deep well in rocky and hard areas with the help of this machinery where private contractors could sink only 100 to 200 feet deep well. “The tubewell division also set up tubewells in the camps established for Afghan refugees,” they said. With the passing of time, private contractors also got such drilling machinery and government lost interest in tube-well division as priority was given to contractors. Finally, officials said, tubewell division was abolished in 2001. They said that the machinery was shifted to Peshawar Circle office of public health engineering about 11 years ago. “No one has been deputed for looking after of the costly machinery and it has been lying in the open air,” they added. During a visit to the office, it was noticed that the machinery got rusted while tyres of the trucks were punctured and the vehicles were parked in knee-deep grass. When asked as to why the machinery was not sold after abolishment of tubewell division, the officials said that some of the high-ups of the department believed that the machinery couldn’t be sold as it was not owned by the provincial government and they had no right to sell donated items. “Our duty is to inform the high-ups about the machinery and its cost,” they said, adding it was the duty of high-ups to take decision regarding selling of the machinery. Prior to the abolishment of the tube-well division, the machines were in perfect condition, however, after lying useless for 11 years these got rusted and can be hardly used. The officials said that government should form a committee for immediate auction of the rusted machinery. Had the machinery been auctioned in 2001, it could have earn much more money for the government exchequer than the existing Rs30 millions, they said. Sikandar Khan Afridi, the superintendent engineer of public health engineering, when contacted, said that Peshawar Circle of the department had sent a proposal for the auction of the machinery about 11 years ago. However, the proposal was turned down by the high-ups of the department on the ground that the machinery was gifted by UNHCR and it couldn’t be auctioned. Mr Afridi said that one of the officials was preparing a list of the machinery and its worth to be sent to the provincial government to decide about it. “Now it is up to the government to auction or hand over it to other department like irrigation or agriculture departments,” he added.