Absent from duty: Three govt officials suspended, 50 served notices

Action taken by G-B Chief Secretary during surprise visits to govt departments.

GILGIT:

All those complaints about officials of the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) administration being lax at work had some truth to them, it seems. During a surprise visit to various government departments on Thursday, G-B Chief Secretary Sajjad Saleem Hotiyana suspended at least three officials and served notices to another 50 after they were found absent from duty.

“The inspection was carried out in response to growing public complaints against public servants, prompting the administration to tighten the noose around those showing laxity in official duties,” said Ulfat Hussain, an official in the chief secretary office.

Other officials said that Hotiyana initially took action against officials of the excise and taxation department after he found a majority of the staff absent from duty. When he went to the mineral and industries department, the situation was no different.

The chief secretary in response suspended three officials: Abid Wali Shah, Mirbaz and Nazim Khan and issued notices to 50 others. Hotiyana also visited the district headquarter hospital and directed the authorities concerned to speed up work on the hospital’s under construction buildings.

Following Hotiyana’s footsteps, G-B Home Secretary Faisal Zahoor also paid surprise visits to the offices of deputy commissioner and assistant commissioner and found many of the lower staff absent from duty. He took the official attendance record from both the offices into custody for further action.

Earlier this week, the chief secretary suspended two doctors including a child specialist for being absent from duty during a visit to the district headquarter hospital of Ghizer in Gahkuch.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2012.