The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), which usually keeps crying for a worst ever financial crisis, is spending millions of rupees monthly on security of its newly employed officials, a move, sources said, is contradicting claims of the utility.
According to sources, over 40 newly recruited officials by Abraaj Capital are not only enjoying high salaries and other perks and privileges but also have one security guard each at their home who are paid monthly Rs 40,000.
The company has recently hired at least 140 security guards from ZIMS, a private security company, out of which 40 guards had been sanctioned for high officials' houses as personal guard and the rest were given duties at KESC headquarters and its grids, sources said.
The 100 of the rest private guards are collectively paid per month Rs 1.3 million as Rs 13,000 each has been fixed as monthly salary. But on the other hand the existing 700 of KESC guards have been receiving only Rs 6000 each monthly. This discriminatory act, as sources claimed, has also created frustration among its own guards. As a matter of fact, these private guards are actually paying over 50 percent less of their salaries by the private security company as some of these guards said that they were paid Rs 6,000 per month only.
Interestingly, sources said, the company had even hired these guards by a letter of intent and no agreement or contracts had been signed with ZIMS that in case of any happenings the public utility would face losses. "It's highly illegal not to make agreements or sign a contract as the company will face in case of any losses regarding these guards," sources said.
The matter was raised in the monthly meeting of KESC shareholders last month and the latter were assured by the company's high-ups to look into the issue seriously, but nothing had been changed so far, sources added. They said that the management was favouring the security company as there were other companies providing guards on less salaries.
"The management rather has to recruit its own security guards on contract basis as it has the need of around 1500 guards at its different power houses," they added. They said that before taking over the control of the public utility by the new management, only its chief operative officer used to have a personal guard.
However, some sources in the company said that the management was considering to train its contract employees to assign them the duties of guards as it has already decided not to suspend these employees after completion of their job tenure.