LAHORE: Punjab Assembly was told on Thursday that the Bank of Punjab (BoP) president is drawing a monthly salary of Rs5.6 million and his appointment has been made purely on merit. During the Question Hour session related to the ministries of Finance, Labour and Human Resources, the PA was told that the BoP president was not interviewed by Punjab chief minister before appointment and the best person was selected for the post, who meets the eligibility criterion. The issue came under discussion when Pakistan People’s Party MPA Faiza Malik expressed dissatisfaction over the answer, given by the Parliamentary Secretary Rana Babar. Responding to her accusations, Rana Babar said the monthly salary drawn by the BoP president was far lesser than heads of various other organisations. He said BoP President Naeemuddin deserved more salary for his work, adding that the bank was showing a profit of around Rs5 billion annually. However, he said if further details were to be sought about the eligibility criterion for the post of BoP president, fresh question needed to be put. Providing further details, Rana Babar told the House that total 388 branches of BoP were working in Punjab in which 3,953 workers and 482 officials were serving on executive posts (AVP or above), 2,320 were serving as officers and the number of clerical/non clerical staff is 1,151. Mian Naveed, the parliamentary secretary for Labour and Human Resource, while responding to a question related to his department, said Employment Exchange set up in district Labour offices of Sahiwal, Okara and Pakpattan were abolished in 1994 and admitted that the posts of Manager and Accountant in Daftar Rozgar (Employment Exchange) were lying vacant since 2009 and 2014, respectively. Responding to a question raised by Malik Umar Farooq, the PML-N legislator from Taxila, Rawalpindi told that the total area of Workers Colony, being set up under the aegis of Workers Welfare Board in Taxila, was 273 kanal and 3 marlas. He said that 57 flats would be constructed in this colony, whereas in its 36 blocks, 16 houses would be constructed in each of them.
