Provinces leave 25,000 interns high and dry

Govt not responsible for interns with provincial domiciles, says NIP chief.

ISLAMABAD: The fate of 25,000 recently hired interns is in the doldrums after  the provinces refused to provide stipends and asked them not to show up for work.

The Punjab and Sindh governments have asked interns from the National Internship Programme (NIP) not to show up for work as they have no funds to provide stipends. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has also taken a similar stance on the issue.

However, the Balochistan government has asked the directorate of NIP to provide an estimate of the number of interns so funds can be arranged for them.

“I was selected in the fourth phase of the programme in April but after the devolution process I didn’t get my salary for July,” said Sarfraz, an intern from Punjab.

After the devolution of ministries, the provinces hired around 25,000 interns, selected in the fourth phase of the programme, but no funds were allocated for their stipends.

Director-general NIP Muntazir Mehdi told APP that the federal government did not allocate funds for the interns having provincial domiciles. Mehdi added that after the passage of the 18th Amendment, the ministry had been devolved and the provinces were now liable to provide stipend to their interns.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th,  2011.