Expressing serious anger over failure of Ministry of Finance in releasing salaries to employees of National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) before Eid-ul-Azha, a special parliamentary panel on Wednesday said that bureaucracy is deliberately ignoring the Parliament's directions. The subcommittee of the Senate Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas met with Rubina Irfan in the Chair to investigate the matter of grievances of NCHD employees, belonging to the less developed areas of the country.
The chairman committee said that the senior officials of Ministry of Finance in an earlier meeting assured the panel of releasing salaries of NCHD before Eid-ul-Azha, but secretary Ministry of Finance has not bothered to attend the meeting today (Wednesday) as usual. Senator Rubina Irfan deplored over the response of secretary finance and said that the bureaucracy's attitude shows that it is not giving any importance to the education of the poor, especially the people of far-flung areas.
The additional secretary Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training and Director General NCHD told the meeting that a request for supplementary grant was sent to the Finance Division to ensure that salaries of NCHD employees are paid smoothly in future, but Finance Ministry has not responded as yet. The officials further said that service rules of the employees have been shared to sort out matters relating to management.
The commission, which was established in 2002 as a subsidiary of Ministry of Federal Education, aims to improve access to basic education and healthcare among the country's poorest communities. It employs over 6,000 people, whose arrears have been pending for over three years.
The NCHD is considered a leading agency fighting illiteracy in 134 districts of Pakistan through literacy centres and schools, but there are no service rules, or a proper budget for the staff, which has forced its employees to take to the street. At present, the NCHD staff from across the country, except for teachers has been protesting for a month and a half against their pending salaries and other demands, the meeting was informed.
The chairperson committee said that 6,000 teachers from across the country are providing education to thousands of students at just Rs 8,000 per month salary, adding that majority of the teachers hold bachelor and master degrees. She said if the subcommittee fails to resolve the issue, it will submit the findings of the probe with the main committee and recommend to put the matter before the Senate for further line of action in this regard, as apparently Finance Ministry is not taking the matter seriously.
Committee members Senator Nisar Ahmed Khan and Senator Mukhtiar Ahmed Dhamrah said that the committee has concluded that the Finance Ministry and other stakeholders did not want to resolve the issue. Chairperson NCHD Razina Alam Khan said the protesting employees should call off their strike, as they are bound to provide education to improve the literacy rate under articles 37 and 25 of the Constitutions. She said the employees' issues would be resolved.
However, Senator Dhamrah asked Razina Alam Khan why the employees have not been paid and their service rules have not been finalised yet. She responded that she was in favour of resolving employees' issues and efforts are afoot in this regard, but they have no justification to protest for such a long time. The chairperson committee said that the matter is an important one, and the subcommittee had concluded that the main committee of the problems of less developed areas should conduct a public hearing to reach a conclusion.