The associate professors (APs) in the colleges of the federal capital have yet to receive the Disparity Reduction Allowance (DRA), which has been granted to all federal government employees of basic pay scales (BPS) 1-19, official sources maintained on Sunday.
According to a spokesperson, the Ministry of Finance had released notification of monthly DRA at the rate of 25 per cent of the running basic pay of the government employees after a series of protests of federal and provincial government employees in Islamabad.
The official said allowance has been granted to all federal government servants of BPS-1 to BPS-19 since March 1, but none of the APs in the capital’s colleges has received this allowance. The APs whose original pay scale is BPS-19 but their basic pay is adjusted in BPS-20 on the basis of higher time scale (previously known as move-over) have not been granted DRA considering them officers of BPS-20.
These APs are not drawing rental ceiling, senior post allowance, orderly allowance, entertainment allowance and transport monetisation of BPS-20 because their regular pay scale is BPS-19. It is ironic that they are neither accepted in BPS-20 nor in BPS-19, a situation where they are lingering neither here nor there with no standing anywhere, they added.
An AP from Islamabad Model College for Girls in Sector F-7/2 said, "I am in time scale-20 but not entitled to the benefits available considering my original pay scale is BPS-19. On the other hand, I have not been granted DRA considering I am in BPS-20.”
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The officers like me are bearing the brunt of the dispute between the original pay scale and higher time scale, which has created a big anomaly, she added. “Consequently, I am not being granted the benefits or perks of BPS-20 nor the Disparity Reduction Allowance of BPS-19, which is ridiculous," she said.
Another AP at Islamabad Model Postgraduate College for Boys in Sector H-8, complaining of deprivation, said, "It is so disappointing and against the dispensation of justice that APs have been ignored while implementing the decision." He urged the finance secretary to take notice of the situation and ensure implementation of DRA to remove this anomaly.
A representative of the Federal Government College Teachers Association said that all the federal government employees of BPS 1-19 are receiving the allowance. It is exclusively the APs who have been deprived of this allowance,” he alleged, adding that teachers are nation-builders and need to be respected equally.
"We urge the prime minister to take notice of this discriminatory move and they should be treated on a par with other government servants", he maintained.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2021.
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