The Mehfil-e-Mushaira was organized by the Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) at the Aiwan-e-Sadar on December 26, 2018.
According to the budget report, 26 poets were invited to the programme and each was paid Rs25,000. The total payments approved for the poets was Rs650,000.
Others costs included fee of two hosts which was Rs50,000 each, cost of air travel for poets was Rs 600,000, Rs 100,000 for cost of road travel, Rs 300,000 for stay of poets at the Grand Ambassador Hotel in Islamabad, Rs 50,000 for designing and printing of invitation cards, Rs 80,000 for designing and printing of backdrop, Rs 140,000 for purchase of shawls and shields for the participants, Rs 500,000 for installation of light and sound systems, Rs 200,000 for seating arrangement, Rs 350,000 for set design, Rs 100,000 for hiring of two cars and coasters, Rs 30,000 for refreshments, Rs 262,500 for one dish dinner arrangement, and Rs 137,000 for 'unforeseen'.
The Mushaira titled “Ghalib Naam Aawaram” was organised in connection with the birth anniversary of renowned and great poet Asadullah Khan Ghalib.
Public Money Wasted On Peshawar BRT: Report
A new report on the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Wednesday said that large sums of public money has been wasted due to ‘faulty planning and designing, negligence in execution of work, and poor management of the project’.
The 27-page report prepared by the Provincial Inspection Team (PIT) on orders of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Mehmood Khan revealed that the BRT project was poorly planned. It also revealed that ‘some people’ received Rs 7 billion in kickbacks.
Moreover, some government officials blame the foreign consultant hired for approximately Rs1.5 billion for the flawed design.