Shortage of mandarins: 27 officers given additional charge, KP Assembly told

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly was told on Friday that 27 officers of grade-17 and above have been given additional charge of different departments as the province is short of officers belonging to the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS).

To a question by Shagufta Malik of Awami National Party (ANP), the House was told that the number of PAS officers serving in the province was too low and this was the reason that 27 officers in grade-17 and above have been assigned additional charge.

According to the quota reserved for PAS officers, there are 11 posts of PAS in grade-21, but only four are available. The assembly was told that only 11 are available of 55posts in grade-20 while 19 are available out of 74 positions in grade-19 with a shortage of 55 officers. In grade-18, the province has just 38 officers out of 98. The shortage in this grade is of 60 officers. On the mover’s insistence, the matter was referred to the committee concerned to know the details of salary, perks and privileges of the officers holding additional charge.

Nighat Orakzai of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on a point of order raised the issue of the fatal railways accident in which 22 people lost their lives and scores others were injured. She maintained that the incident was due to the negligence of the railways minister Sheikh Rasheedand his department and demanded his resignation.

During the last 10 months, 79 accidents took place in railways, she added. She said Prime Minister Imran Khan should ask Sheikh Rasheed to resign as in the past he had demanded resignation of the minister and even the prime minister whenever an accident took place.

The other opposition members also supported the demand. The alleged rude behaviour of Managing Director (MD) Tourism, Junaid Khan also came under discussion when the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member Abdul Salam sought suspension of the officer through a privilege motion.

The mover said he was invited to a function of the Tourism Department at a hotel in Peshawar on July 3. He said that during the function the managing director asked him to vacate the seat for his guest.

The MPA said he introduced himself but the official in question, but to no avail. “As the hall was full of guests, I did not argue with him and quietly left the seat. This awkward behaviour of the managing director not only shocked and insulted me but it was an insult to the whole House. He should be called to the privilege committee and suspended,” he demanded.

Though Minister for Communications Akbar Ayub argued that the motion be deferred for any other day as the minister concerned was absent, the treasury and the opposition lawmakers except a few ministers backed the move for sending the motion to the privilege committee.

The Speaker, MushtaqGhani, agreed and referred the matter to the committee concerned. Opposition parliamentary leader Akram Khan Durrani one again raised the issue of the “Billion Tree Tsunami” project and asked the speaker to revive the commission constituted for probing the project.

He said a meeting of the commission should be called or else more forests would be set on fire. He claimed to have received proof of irregularities in the project in different districts. He also reiterated the demand for setting up parliamentary committee on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.

He warned that the opposition would constitute its own commission to probe irregularities in these projects and would not allow the government to avoid the probe. However, Information Minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai while rejecting the allegations of corruption in the two projects said that the commission on the “Billion Tree Tsunami” project was set up for one month and its tenure had ended.

He said the opposition should move the court or produce proof of corruption on the floor of the House. He repeated his claim that BRT would be completed within its initially declared cost of Rs29 billion.

Another privilege motion of Shagufta Malik against Secretary Local Government Zahir Shah was also referred to the committee concerned before the speaker adjourned the session till Monday.