EDITORIAL: This past week we witnessed happenings that hadn’t happened ever before. The government of the day lost power to its opponents by a thin margin of three votes but its MNAs decided to resign en masse from the National Assembly instead of shifting to the other side of the aisle. With breathless suddenness, the president abstained from administering oath to the newly-elected prime minister on ‘grounds’ of “discomfort”.
And Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lost the first place to the Turkish president and was second among the world leaders who greeted Shehbaz Sharif on his assumption as Pakistan’s 23rd prime minister. But what escaped the public attention was the first-ever offer by a government servant to work at half the salary he has been getting.
His name is Prof Asad Aslam Khan and is on job as Director General of Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority (P-HOTA). He has requested the provincial government to reduce his remuneration by half — from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 5 lakh — per month.
In fact, what he had been getting was already Rs 3 lakh less than his predecessor’s. In a society where money is the prime consideration, the DG’s request smacks of something wrong with his head. But it is not — at all. “After working for three months I have realised that this salary package, along with above mentioned facilities — (which included an official car, free petrol and a driver) — are out of proportion to the amount of work needed to be done by the Administrator/DG P-HOTA,” he stated in his letter. He also said his proposed package is in the best interest of Pakistan as his remuneration is part of the tax money.
There is no doubt about the poor state of salary slabs and pensions. The government servants in the highest grade get almost 30 times more than what the lowest rank employee is paid as his salary plus allowances. The same disparity besets the pension payments. In a country where per capita income is $1190 it is unbelievable that some of the government servants’ per capita income is nearly $95,000.
Where is that Musawaat (equality) we are so fond of flaunting as our ideology? And who get plots in posh sectors of capital and cantonments — not the low-grade employees because this too is exclusive privilege of the higher-grade officers. It is, therefore, not surprising that in the barren fields populated by the poor and middle class people there are islands of prosperity.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022