The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has set a deadline eight days from today [Tuesday] to find out who the ghost employees in the department are.
By March 18, all employees of the KWSB have to obtain physical verification certificates which will be issued by the managing director of the water board. Sources estimate that more than 2,000 out of the KWSB's 13,000 employees are ghosts.
Around 700 employees from different pumping stations such as Hub Dam and Damlooti Well turned up at the head office to show their credentials to the officials of the water board on Monday. According to a source, the water board has called in roughly 2,000 employees from different pumping stations to come get verified.
Officers, including those in grade-20, had to line up to get themselves physically and receive their NOC after showing pay slips and their Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC) to the officials.
No arrangements had been made to facilitate the employees as the water board had only made arrangements to seat 50 employees, while the rest had to stand in the sun. Only 700 employees managed to get their certificates while the rest had to return to work without theirs.
"Can you believe this? We have been standing here for the last two hours without any water or any seating arrangements," said an official of the KWSB who did not wish to be named. "There are at least 2,000 people here to get their certificates but the procedure is taking too long."
Ghost walks
While talking to The Express Tribune about the verification process, the official said that this was no way to find out who the ghost employees were. "I know several ghost employees in my department," he said. "They are also present here and giving in their pay slips."
He added that once this drive was over, they [the board] would not find any ghost employees - even though there were several. He claimed that this was just a drama being enacted by KWSB officials.
Now you see me
Another source at the KWSB said that they will confirm an employee only after he presented them with a CNIC and pay slip. "Even they [the officials] did not know the definition of ghost employees." he said. "The ghost employee does not do any work but comes to the office once a month for the pay cheque." He added that according to paper work and board documents, a ghost employee was in effect a permanent employee.
The source claimed that it was not possible to weed out ghost employees just by checking salary slips or CNICs.
According to the source, Sindh Information and Local Bodies Minister Sharjeel Memon had asked all employees of the KWSB to open accounts at Sindh Bank. The source claimed that it was not difficult for any employee - ghost or real - to open an account at the bank.
The KWSB spokesperson said, however, that physical verification can prove to be useful in singling out the ghost employees of the department.
He said that they had called the employees in for verification. "If someone is a ghost," he said, "How is it possible for them to come in for a physical verification?"
He accepted that they did not find any ghost employees as yet but the process will go on for a week till they managed to get rid of the ghosts.
The KWSB spokesperson added that the process will be monitored by the deputy commissioners, senior board officials and KWSB's managing director, Quttubudin Shaikh.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2015.
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