LAHORE: Acting Managing Director (MD) National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) Manzoor Ahmad has claimed ‘professional jealousy’ behind corruption allegations against him, saying not a single allegation has proved against him after departmental as well as National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquires.
However, departmental sources said no action has been taken against him by the competent authority despite clear cut findings, conclusions and recommendations of disciplinary action against him by the inquiry committees.
However, former MD Zafar Abbas who constituted a bid evaluation committee in the case of CASA boundary wall project had removed him from the project back in 2018.
Talking to Business Recorder, Manzoor said that he had put four documents before his predecessor MD Engr. Azaz Ahmad, who had dismissed corruption charges against him after examining those documents.
“Had I been involved in corrupt practices in the past, how could I be promoted to the office of MD at the verge of my retirement?” he asked. He will be attaining superannuation in February 2022.
Many important projects for power evacuation are on his credit which included evacuation of power from Neelum Jhelum, Chashma Bannu, Bikki, Haveli Bahadur Shah, Sahiwal coal, Port Qasim, and Hubco besides laying down transmission network in Azad Kashmir. “I have saved Rs 80 million liquidity damages by connecting Lucky Cement Power Plant to the national grid by completing it in the month of November against the original deadline of February 2022,” he asserted.
However, official inquiries, copies available with Business Recorder, suggest that he was responsible for substandard and poor quality construction of two 132 kV lines in Sindh, causing millions of rupees loss to NTDC in the name of maintenance.
He had also faced inquiry in the construction of Chashma Bannu transmission line. The route of this project was changed to have pile foundations near the river. These foundations again collapsed recently and the route of line was restored to original site.
Manzoor also faced inquiry for deliberately changing site for 500kV grid station Chakwal causing delay/non-start of work and eventually heavy loss to the national exchequer.
In the case of CASA boundary wall project, the inquiry report has pointed out that he had allegedly carried out fictitious tendering process that had attracted the attention of then MD Zafar Abbas who constituted a bid evaluation committee.
The committee found fabricated bids with incomplete documents amounting to half a billion rupees. The committee was verbally asked to complete missing documents to award tender to a favourite contractor. Similarly, Manzoor was charged with reducing Rs8.7 million from already verified variation order etc at Nowshera, Mansehra and Chakdra grid stations.
The NAB has also made inquiries in a number of cases but Manzoor claims that he was exonerated form all the charges after inquiries.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021