18th amendment: Employees of devolved ministries put in surplus pool

Senator Rabbani assures employees of devolved ministries will not be laid off.

ISLAMABAD:

A parliamentary commission for the implementation of 18th constitutional amendment has decided to go ahead with its earlier decision of transferring five more federal ministries to the provinces next month, despite uncertainty about the future of their employees.

At a meeting on Thursday between the commission’s chair and top provincial bureaucrats, it was decided that thousands of employees from to-be-devolved ministries would be sent to a surplus pool at the centre as a makeshift arrangement.

The decision was made after provincial chief secretaries told Senator Raza Rabbani, the commission’s chairperson, that provinces were not in a financial position to absorb these employees.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has already promised that his government doesn’t plan to fire the employees.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2011.