Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Monday (today) will approve two months (June-July) 2016 salaries of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) employees on the recommendations of Privatisation Commission.
Official sources told Business Recorder that ECC in its meeting held on June 28, 2016 had approved two months' salaries to the employees of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) ie February and March 2016. However, a decision regarding the sale of PSM inventory to meet its day-to-day expenses was left pending. ECC in its meeting on January, 29, 2016 had formed a committee comprising Privatisation Division, Finance Division and PSM to verify the salary bill of the dysfunctional mills. "We have submitted the summary to the ECC which will approve it today," said an official.
After a series of meetings between all stakeholders, it was decided that PSM will reduce its salary bill to Rs 380 million per month from March 2016. Accordingly, salary bill for the employees of PSMC which was Rs 435 million per month in November 2015 was reduced to Rs 380 million per month in March 2016. The production of PSM is at a standstill since June 2015 when SSGC reduced gas pressure to a bare minimum. Since PSM has exhausted its finished inventory and it is also not allowed to sell its unfinished inventory without prior permission of PC, PSM requires Rs 190 million per month to meet its day to day expenses in order to keep the mill operational at the required heating mode. Previously, the ECC approved disbursement of salaries for at least two months from April to May 2016, amounting to Rs 760 million in addition to Rs 190 million to enable the mills to meet its day to day expenses. Currently, unfinished inventory worth approximately Rs 5 billion is available with the PSM.
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