Heads of state-run enterprises may be axed

Caretaker minister seeks contract details of all CEOs for review.

ISLAMABAD:

Heads of public sector enterprises, which fall under the domain of the Ministry of Industries and Production, may be sent packing as caretaker Federal Minister for Industries and Production Shahzada Ahsan Ashraf Sheikh has announced plans to review the appointment contracts of all chief executive officers.

“I have sought contract details of all CEOs so that we can review them as per law,” Sheikh said while talking to the media after getting a briefing from officials here on Thursday. New Industries Secretary Zafar Mahmood was also present in the briefing.

Strict action will be taken against those involved in malpractice in the ministry and its attached departments and organisations, he said and stressed that during his tenure he would promote merit in the ministry and its departments.

The key organisations associated with the Ministry of Industries are Utility Stores Corporation, National Fertilizer Corporation, Engineering Development Board, National Productivity Organisation, Department of Explosives, Pakistan Steel Mills, State Engineering Corporation and Heavy Electrical Complex.

CEOs of these enterprises are said to have been appointed on political grounds during the tenure of the previous government. The PPP government had also appointed hundreds of employees in state-run companies.

“We will try to clear backlog of policies including the new industrial policy and the Auto Industry Plan left by the previous government,” said Sheikh, a textile tycoon who categorically declared that no one had recommended his name for the slot of minister.

He announced that the Ministry of Industries would either approach the Economic Coordination Committee or the cabinet to win back the right to inspect compressed natural gas (CNG) stations as many of these were set up near residential localities and industrial plazas and were like ticking gas bombs.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2013.

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