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Govt will not accept substandard tents, CS tells manufacturers

* Thousands of poor quality tents rejected, Punjab to supply 210,000 tents to the federal government by 30th

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Punjab government has rejected thousands of tents meant for earthquake-affected people because they were not in accordance with the specific standard.

A government handout issued on Friday stated that Punjab Chief Secretary Salman Siddique had made it clear to tent manufacturers in the province that the government would not accept substandard tents on any account. In a meeting with representatives of tent manufacturers, the chief secretary repeated the government’s commitment to not compromise on the quality of temporary housing for the quake victims. Only waterproof and quality tents can protect the calamity-stricken people from the severity of the weather, he added.

Salman expressed the resolve to continue meticulous inspection and quality control of the supplied tents and urged the manufacturers to accomplish the target of supplying almost 210,000 tents by November end.

Coordination Secretary Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera told reporters that the contract between the manufacturers and government included a condition called ‘Return For Repair’ according to which the tents found to be below standard during inspection at the manufacturing units would be returned to the manufacturers for repair.

Sukhera said the Punjab government had sent about 20,000 tents to the federal government to date and the remaining 190,000 would be supplied before the deadline. He added that the government had deployed officials of the Industries Department at all manufacturing units to check the quality of each tent. Army personnel have also been hired to check the quality of the tents before they are sent to the federal government, said the secretary.

Sukhera said that the government had advanced 25 percent of the total payment to the manufacturers to ensure the timely provision of the tents. He said the Punjab government had provided 636 tents from its own sources for setting up tents village in Chakwal, Manshera and Azad Kashmir.

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