Promotions, raise in salaries: G-B officials seek an end to discrimination

Call for reduction in quota of DMG officials from down country.

GILGIT:

Employees of the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) administration have expressed concern over the alleged discrimination against them in promotions and raise in salaries by the District Management Group (DMG).

The employees, who serve in G-B’s district management service and office management service groups, said they have been denied the promotions and increased salaries entitled to them under the Transitional Plan 2009, adding that the benefits are instead being availed by the officials of the DMG officers from down country posted in G-B under special quota. They demanded promotion and raise in salaries. They also called for reduction in the 25 per cent quota for DMG officials in the G-B administration.

An official of the district management service department said on the condition of anonymity that under the Transitional Plan 2009, grade 17 to 19 employees of the G-B administration are entitled to all those benefits currently being received by the DMG employees posted in G-B. “However, the plan’s implementation is being deliberately delayed,” he said.

The official said that trainee employees of the DMG posted in G-B are readily promoted to senior positions, such that of the deputy commissioner, while the tenure of their service is also violated.

“The DMG officials are usually deputed for three years, but their tenure is extended for as long as their bosses wish,” he added.

“We, the over 28,000 employees of the G-B government, have decided in principle to stand up for our rights,” said the official. He added that they will push for their rights under the umbrella of the G-B Employees’ Welfare Association. The association is led by Deputy Secretary Health Asifullah Khan.

Moreover, the Departmental Promotional Committee (DPC), whose role is exactly what the name implies, has not yet been constituted and officials are being denied their due right to promotions, said another official of the G-B administration.

“Local officers are quite competent and deserve to be treated fairly,” the official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2012.