Quetta, The Provincial Ombudsman of Balochistan, Nazar Muhammad Baloch, has formally requested the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate allegations of corruption and project mismanagement within the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department concerning water supply schemes in the Doab district.

According to Directorate General Public Relation – Govt of Balochistan, the inquiry was prompted by over 20 written complaints alleging that funds allocated for more than 200 solar water supply projects, totaling approximately 279.6 million PKR, were grossly mismanaged. These funds, released in January 2022, were intended for the development of clean drinking water facilities across various villages in the Doab district.

However, the Regional Director Doob, Syed Razzaq Shah, after a thorough investigation of Tehsil Kakar Khorasan and Tehsil Doob, found significant delays and misconduct, including the issuance of work orders in June 2023 with the entire amount disbursed by the end of June 2023 without adequate completion of the projects. The report highlighted that many of the initiated schemes were left incomplete, and several others were not started at all.

The provincial ombudsman has called on NAB to take legal action against those responsible for the embezzlement and to ensure the completion of the water supply schemes as originally planned.