ISLAMABAD: The government has lifted the ban on recruitment of daily wagers, but is confronted with an unsettling scenario of already bloated federal ministries and divisions which leaves little room to offer jobs to constituents.
According to a source in the ruling party, “like any other party in government, we also want jobs for our voters, but unfortunately, the PPP hasn’t left much room for us. Every other federal government department is said to be over-staffed.”
The source said the PPP and its allies offered contract jobs to 4,451 persons in the Utility Stores while 4,645 people were inducted into the organisation on daily-wage basis.
There is currently no vacancy in the Utility Stores Corporation.
In Pakistan Steel Mills, nearly 6,000 people were given jobs between 2008 and 2013. which not only contributed towards bankrupting it but also left no room for improvement of its affairs. The ruling party lawmaker alleged that most of the recruitments were made on political basis.
The story is not too different for the Pakistan International Airlines, which employs an unprecedented 1,000 employees per aircraft.
Earlier, the PML-N had resisted relentless pressure by party lawmakers for lifting the ban on jobs. On April 3, however, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif removed the ban which, his office said, was to allow the hiring of “contingent staff” with temporary status to meet the genuine requirements of public-sector organisations.
The prime minister strictly instructed the heads of government organisations to follow the rules and conduct the process in a transparent manner, based on merit.
When asked, the party source said that one possible way out for the government was to remove existing daily wagers and replace them with new ones of party’s choice.
However, such a move would attract outrage from the opposition benches; the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Shah, has already threatened to go on a hunger strike if people employed by the PPP government are removed from their jobs.
Mr Shah quoted the names of a few employees of the National Database and Registration Authority, whose contracts the government had refused to extend.
“We are in a classic catch-22 situation where our party’s lawmakers are practically running from pillar to post to get jobs for their voters; we have nothing much to offer them,” said a member of the PML-N cabinet.
In response to another question, he said that in every parliamentary meeting of the party, the issue of jobs is raised by the party’s lawmakers.
Only last week, the prime minister approved the recruitment of 600 policemen in the Pakistan Railways Police, a development that would at least ease pressure for the railways minister, Khwaja Saad Rafique.
“It’s a good development for Mr Rafique, but adds pressure on other members of the cabinet to look for workable plans of action to increase vacancies in their ministries,” said the cabinet member.