Cash-strapped: Bloated PWD workforce leaves no money for development work

DG would like the dept to be relieved of surplus staff.

ISLAMABAD:

In a surprise revelation, senators learnt that the reason why the Public Works Department (PWD) never seems to have the money to carry out repair and maintenance work on public buildings is its bloated workforce.

There are about 3,800 regular employees and 5,654 temporary staffers in PWD, while 900 posts are still vacant, parliamentarians were told during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works on Monday.

According to PWD Director General (DG) Ataulhaq Akhtar, the situation was quite bleak and they were looking for amendments to address the issue of overemployment, which was adversely affecting not only PWD, but also the departments it was serving.

According to PWD officials, the salaries of temporary employees are drawn from the same head as regular staff, making it difficult to pay out salaries on time.

The delay sometimes extends to four to five months. The fact that temporary employees have been drawing pensions since 1973 was a surprise for the senators.

A surprised Senator Zafar Ali Shah could only ask how and why temporary staffers also get pensions.

The DG said the issue surfaced after some 133 staffers were regularised by the Pakistan People’s Party government, while another 400 daily wagers were regularised by the Khurshid Shah-led regularisation committee.

Surplus employees are taking a toll on the ministry’s finances and PWD does not have funds to renovate the National Assembly, he added.

“For timely release of salaries and development work, changes are being made to the budget allocation,” he said.

The DG said PWD was facing a deficit of Rs293 million and a supplementary grant of Rs238 million had been approved by the finance ministry. “We will request that the remaining Rs60 million is also released to resolve the issue of salaries. The surplus staff is of no use to PWD.”

The minister for Housing and Works has suggested that surplus employees be absorbed in ministries where there are vacancies, he added.

A source in the ministry added that about Rs2.2 billion are disbursed every year for the temporary staff employed in the Repair and Maintenance department, leaving Rs250 million is left for maintenance work. “This will not be resolved until the bone of contention, the issue of temporary staff, is resolved,” said another officer at PWD.

The DG said they were hopeful that government would resolve the issue that had gridlocked PWD to allow the department to carry on with its work.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2014.