NCHD decides to lay off 80,000 employees

The National Human Commission Development (NCHD) board of governors has decided to lay off 80,000 employee working in different projects, including health, education, literacy, volunteerism for community development and capacity development departments because of lack of funds with the employees getting one-month notices on August 1.
Sources say the then-caretaker premier Muhammadmian Somoro-led government had withheld the funds with Premier Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani only promising to release the funds. The government released only Rs 447 million against the Commission's total annual budget of Rs 2.3 billion.
A national conference of the directors and districts general managers from 117 districts then took place with Dr Naseem Ashraf chairing it in Islamabad. The conference ended at late night mulling over the alarming situation with the Commission. The management discussed in detail a decision by the Commission's governing board to lay off 80,000 permanent and contractual employees of the organisation in the 117 districts, including Fata and Fana where security and unemployment conditions are already alarming.
The governing body comprising PM's Special Advisor on social welfare Shahnaz Wazir Ali, former Privatisation Minister Dr Hafeez Sheikh, Commission Chairman Dr Naseem Ashraf, Mushtaq A. Khan, and Peerzada, the financial advisor of Cabinet Division-then decided to close its operation and lay off the employees. The general managers of the districts discussed in detail the situation and laid stressed on the cost of human sufferings from such a massive layoff.
Dr Naseem Ashraf with a group of the Commission's general managers also called on Federal Finance Minister Naveed Qamar telling him about the needed funds. A detailed summary is also prepared by the Commission, being moved to the premier. The Commission, declared as the leading organisation of literacy in Pakistan by the government and won the International Literacy Award by Unesco in 2006, managed to enroll over 8.2 million previously out of school children and established 21,639 community-based feeder schools. The Commission's adult literacy project had the major contribution where 121,187 adult literacy centres were established nation-wide and 2.68 million learners made literate.
The Commission's ORS (Nimkol) project had also been a resounding success where 13.7 million women in 80 districts of the country were trained to make home made ORS necessary to reduce child mortality in the country. The Commission primary health care project and capacity building projects with community technology learning centres operating with collaboration of district governments and Microsoft are also widely acclaimed. Its efforts in the reconstruction phase of 2005 earthquake were internationally recognised.