As funding is diverted, scientists discover the economics of belt tightening

Present and retired employees suffer from financial crunch.

KARACHI: As feared, the government has started to make hard choices about where to put its money given that flood-hit areas are a priority. One institution that has started to feel the pinch is the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR).

Its employees are having a rough time as promised raises, which come to a total of Rs45 million, have been put on the backburner even though the money was set aside in the budget for 2010-11. Salaries were supposed to go up 50 per cent and medical allowances 15 per cent. “Our [insurance-covered] panel hospitals have refused to admit our sick family members by suspending our OPD benefits because the council owes them millions of rupees,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

It is not only the present employees who are suffering from the financial crunch as retired employees have yet to receive a 15 per cent increase in their pension.

The PCSIR is a semi-autonomous body, formed to promote science and technology in the country. It works under the Ministry of Science and Technology. In Karachi it operates a Fuel Research Centre, Leather Research Centre, Institute of Industrial and Electronic Engineering, Pak Swiss Training Centre and Karachi Laboratory Complex and Scientific Information Centre (SIC).

A retired accounts officer of the council, Allah Obahyo Dahri, told The Express Tribune that except for the PSCIR, salaries and pensions have been increased for employees working in different provincial and federal government departments.

“We fail to understand why we have not been given the raise,” he said. Dahri is currently earning Rs16,015 through pension and if he receives the increased pension and medical allowance, he will earn Rs22,000.

PCSIR chairperson Dr Tanzil Hyder Usmani told The Express Tribune that they have written to the finance department to release the funds according to the raise announced in the budget. “I agree that all departments, working under the Ministry of Science and Technology, have received the proposed raise except us,” he said, adding that they too will receive the increase very soon.

Some officials believed that the raise in salaries and pensions is being deliberately delayed by the higher authorities of the PCSIR. “This is not happening for the first time. Every time the government announces an increase, there is a delay of at least three to four months,” said a senior researcher at the Leather Research Centre. He said that the authorities deposit the allocated funds in banks and earn interest on them.

However, accounts officer Raees Ahmed refuted the allegation. He said that since the PCSIR is an autonomous body, the council’s board implements the final decision announced by the federal government. “The board has given its approval and we are waiting to get the benefits,” he said.

According to Ahmed, the federal government has cut their approved budget by 20 per cent following the floods and urged them to avoid additional expenses. “We have only been receiving salaries and utility expenses while expenses for repairs, maintenance, extra equipment and chemicals has temporarily been stopped,” he added.

“No additional grants will be given to us due to the floods so the council has to manage all its expenses from its resources,” he explained, adding that the monthly expenses of PCSIR comes to around Rs35 million.

There are currently 3,000 people employed in the council’s laboratories situated in the capitals of all provinces.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2010.