Balochistan package misuse: Postal jobs given to 'favourites'. PHOTO: FILE
Instead of hiring people on merit, the Pakistan Postal Service in Balochistan recruited 171 people from a list of names provided by the former federal minister for postal service, Senator Daud Khan Achakzai informed a Senate panel.
During a meeting of the Standing Committee on Communication and Postal Service on Friday, the senator said the positions were sanctioned to the province under the government’s Aghaz-e-Hoqooq-e-Balochistan Programme 2012 in a bid to address the peoples’ grievances.
Outcry ensued when word on the nepotism spread, and the ministry had to cancel the appointments. However, the issue is still unresolved even after a stay was taken from the court, said Senator Achakzai.
In response, Pakistan Postal Service director-general Ghulam Panjtan Rizvi briefed the committee that the 171 positions were vacant and available under the special package. As per the documents provided to the committee, there were 57 posts vacant each in BS-2, BS-7 and BS-9 along with the position of the Postmaster General of Balochistan. However, job openings for 50 posts in each grade were advertised. The remaining positions were filled up without any transparency.
According to an inquiry done, it was found that there was no maintenance of the record of applications that were received for the job openings. Moreover, 69 people of the total number were recruited from the Noshki district of Balochistan, the native district of the former minister. “The principle of merit was again violated,” Rizvi told the Senate panel. “We will re-advertise these positions if the court decides in our favour.”
On a positive note, the DG said that Pakistan Post has taken a number of steps to improve its service and generate revenue. The postal service has forwarded a proposal to the Ministry of Information Technology’s Electronic Government Directorate for the installation of the Centralised Software Solution in 3,080 post offices across the country.
This technology will facilitate the financial services of the Pakistan Post and will make the services online. The project would cost Rs685 million.
The official said that Pakistan Postal Service is facing a financial crunch due to the 30 per cent cut in funds as well as its decreasing revenue over the years. He informed the panel that a summary has been submitted to the finance ministry, seeking a raise in the postal service tariff in a bid to increase revenue.
The ministry briefed the Senate committee that the postal revenue has diminished from Rs531 million in 2007-08 to Rs370 million in 2012-13.
In its concluding remarks, the committee asked the ministry to increase revenue through other sources, including improving its service delivery, public-private partnership, and printing stamps and tickets.
The committee also directed Pakistan Post to re-advertise the 171 positions.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2013.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
A case in point to the exploitation of deserving candidates. The said minister to be hanged and his skin to be displayed in the directorate so as to eradicate the growing trend of nepotism.... I must say as all that is owned by the people of the province , not by the properties he inherited. Balochistan really needs a tranparent change and this should be the starting point