Some Lahore Zoo staff ditch department

Almost 30 employees working in other government offices

LAHORE:

A large number of the employees of Lahore Zoo were allegedly found to be working in other government offices and even at the homes of some retired officers. As a result of this practice, the zoo has shortage of employees.

Nevertheless, these employees continue to get their salaries from the zoo. These employees have been reportedly away from their original postings not for months but for years now. According to the sources of Lahore Zoo, 29 employees had been drawing salaries from the zoo for many years, but instead of performing their duties at the zoo, they were allegedly working in the homes of various serving and retired officers.

A few days ago, the secretary of Forests and Wildlife of Punjab had directed all the employees of the Department of Forests, Fisheries and Wildlife who had been working in places other than that of their offices to report back to their departments.

On the instructions of the secretary, the staff of the Department of Forests and Fisheries returned to their departments.

The number of employees at Lahore Zoo is 176 other than the daily wage workers. Among those employees, 29 are allegedly working in other offices.

The minimum salary of an employee is said to be Rs30,000 apart from the allowances.

According to Lahore Zoo officials, the zoo employees had one holiday a week, but those who were working in other places got two holidays a week. The zoo had no record of their attendance.

Neither anyone from the Lahore Zoo administration nor the director general of Wildlife responded to the queries why the employees who had been getting their salaries from the zoo were working elsewhere.

However, the Secretary of Forests and Wildlife of Punjab, Mudassar Waheed Malik, said that they had returned all such employees to their respective departments, but due to some very urgent reasons some employees were temporarily allowed to work at different places.