Municipal agencies being cleared of ghost employees, says Nasir Hussain Shah

Sindh’s local government and information minister said on Monday that the process to detect the menace of ghost employees in municipal agencies of the province and get rid of them is under way.

“This action will be taken because ghost employees are like a burden on these institutions, because they also usurp the due privileges of genuine staff members. The details of such employees will be publicly revealed soon,” said Syed Nasir Hussain Shah.

The minister was addressing a news conference at the head office of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) after chairing the second meeting of the governing body of the KDA. Shah said on the occasion that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has given special directives to the provincial government to launch low-cost residential projects for the housing needs of the underprivileged people.

He said the government will work on a priority basis to announce a special financial package for the immediate payment of all the arrears pertaining to the salaries and pension of KDA employees.

He also said the PPP chairman has especially directed Sindh’s authorities to ensure timely disbursement of the salaries and pension of the provincial government’s employees. The minister said the officials concerned have been instructed not to cause undue trouble to the people who visit the KDA’s offices for their personal work related to land in the city.

He said he had visited District Central a day earlier, adding that the district’s issues of sanitation, road infrastructure, water supply and other such civic problems will be resolved in a manner that turns it into a model district of the city.

LG Secretary Najam Ahmed Shah said on the occasion that a completely transparent and legal

procedure will be adopted for any future auction of plots in any of the KDA’s projects. He said that a proper procedure of verification and rechecking will be adopted before making an announcement regarding any real estate project by the development authority.

A day ago, the LG minister conceded that the road infrastructure in Karachi’s District Central had been in a shambles since the last spell of heavy monsoon downpour in the city.

“There is no doubt that the roads were already in a bad shape. But now the infrastructure of not just the main roads but also of the adjoining streets and alleys in District Central has been in the worst condition since the heavy rains in the city”, Nasir said while talking to media persons during his visit to the district.

He said an estimated sum of Rs1 billion would be provided by the Sindh government to resolve “main civic problems of the district”, including water supply, sewerage, drainage, street lights, parks, road infrastructure and disposal of municipal waste. Before repairing the district’s road infrastructure, he said the government would revamp the drainage system along these roads so rainwater did not accumulate on roads.