En masse sacking of field staff distresses HWSC's officers

Form action committee to pursue their problems with the authorities

HYDERABAD:

The officers of Hyderabad Water and Sewerage Corporation (HWSC), responsible for keeping the sewage pumping stations functional, seem to be on pins and needles as they await the fate of hundreds of employees laid off over two months ago.

The issues of repair and maintenance expenditures and making payments to contractors have also been distressing the officers who on Tuesday formed an action committee to pursue their problems with the authorities.

The maiden meeting of the Joint Officers Action Committee, attended by the executive engineers, resolved to seek lasting solutions for the myriads of problems which have been affecting their work. The committee has been formed at a time when the lower staff is already up in arms against the HWSC's top tier due to non-payment of around 12 months salaries.

The staff association has also blamed chief HR officer Muhammad Naeem Shoro for allegedly deleting some important data of the corporation from its computer. The accusation has been denied by the HWSC, which termed the association's charge as malicious.

"The human resource department fired hundreds of employees in June without properly verifying the genuine and the ghost staff," said an officer, who requested anonymity while talking to The Express Tribune. The officer informed the matter was also raised in the last governing body meeting of the HWSC, adding that even the body's members emphasised on verification before sacking the staff.

The officer pointed out that the lower staff who are not even being paid Rs15,000 per month salaries on time are being expected to work full-time. In a letter dated July 29 Executive Engineer (XEn) Latifabad Sewerage Subdivision sought immediate reinstatement of the verified staff, warning that essential municipal services may become disrupted as a consequence.

"A month before the onset of the monsoon rains, the HR fired hundreds of staff while providing no replacement," another officer, who also wanted to remain anonymous, told. "However, on our request the genuine staff kept working even though they were sacked because we had to cope with the monsoon rain emergency."

In his letter, the Latifabad Subdivision's XEn pointed out that 207 work charge staff was removed from job in his taluka alone just because they were allegedly absent from the pumping stations during the HR visits. He lamented that the layoffs have been carried out at a time when all the subdivisions of HWSC in Hyderabad are facing shortage of skilled and experienced staff like sub-engineers, site supervisors and the field operators.

He contended that a large number of fired staff members were never ghost employees. According to him, there are 54 sewerage pumping stations in Latifabad where workers are deputed in three shifts daily.