Some 7,000 internees, working in different government departments through out the province under the Prime Minster's National Internship Program (NIP), have not been paid stipend for the last two months.
The internees have not been paid for March and April as the federal government has not issued the programme's allocated funds to the province, sources in Sindh Government told Business Recorder here Tuesday.
Federal Government's unannounced seizure of the programme fund left stirred apprehension among the internees that the programme might be halted or ended by the government. The impression has also led to unease and distress among thousands of internees through out the province besides severely disturbing their performance.
Some 7,000 internees are presently serving different government's department, including federal, provincial, local governments' departments and institutes and authorities through out the province under the National Internship Programme.
The NIP, introduced in February 2007 through out the country by the then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, was aimed at enhancing professional skills and experience of the fresh graduates. Under the programme, the internees has to serve in any government's departments and public sector institutes and organisations, in view of their academic background, for a year and are being paid Rs 10,000 per month as stipend.
The Cabinet Division is overseeing the programme that was carried out in all the four provinces of the country by respective provincial governments. In Sindh, a total of five batches of internees have been inducted in the government departments so far since the initiation of the programme, while the first batch of some 1600 internees have successfully completed its one-year internship.
Many internees working in different departments at Sindh Secretariat told this scribe that they were not entertained properly by the concerned government officials regarding their queries. "We are worried about our future. No one knows why the government has seized the funds allocated for the programme.
Another internee, who had come Sindh Secretariat to inquire about his stipend from Nawabshah, where he is serving in a government college, said that both internees and government officials are equally confused and had no information about the programme.
"It is a matter of our future and career and the government has to decide it carefully. Many of us are completely relying on this stipend and it would be unfair if the programme is terminated without any prior notice," he added.
They should inform us at least if they have decided to end the programme, he said. The non-payment of monthly stipend to internees has severely disturbed their routine work in different institutes and organisations as most of them had decided to stay at home and not attending their concerned offices.
Some internees working in Sindh Government's Finance Department told Business Recorder that they are planning to organise a protest demonstration to aware the government's high-ups of the situation. "We are contacting our fellows in this regard and it is expected that we would stage a protest demonstration either at Press Club or at Chief Minister House to draw his attention towards the issue", they said.
It is worth mentioning here that around 1600 internees of the first batch of NIP in Sindh, who had completed their one-year period of internship, have not received their certificates, as per promise of the government. When the treasury office of the provincial government contacted, an official said that the department is unable to issue the cheques to the internees as the federal government has not issued the funds for the programme since last two months.
"We have contacted Islamabad many times but got no response except the matter is under review and a decision would soon be taken in this regard," said the official requesting anonymity. As per my knowledge, he said, the federal government is not issuing the programme fund to other three provinces as well and the internees in all the provinces are compelled to bear the same situation.