Employees protest against new PDA DG

PESHAWAR: The employees of Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) began a strike against the new director general Mohammad Ali Asghar, saying they would not accept a junior officer of BPS-18 to work on BPS-20 position.

The PDA employees are also critical of the government for transferring three director generals in the past one year. The employees have been on strike since last Monday and stopped attending offices as a protest against the appointment of Mohammad Ali Asghar as director general.

The government on January 20, 2021 transferred and posted Mohammad Ali Asghar as director general PDA. He replaced Saqib Raza Aslam who served there only for 40 days.

Before sending him to PDA, Saqib Raza served as director general of the Excise and Taxation department. And before that, he was deputy commissioner Swat where he was accused of being unable to execute the long-awaited anti-encroachment campaign against the powerful mafias in Madyan, Bahrain and Kalam, where influential people are stated to have occupied state land on the bank of River Swat.

There were reports at that time that the government could punish him for his failure in Swat but he was given a prized position of DG excise and taxation.

After serving there for quite a long time, he was then transferred and posted as DG PDA. He had also worked for 40 days in PDA when the government transferred him and was posted as secretary.

Saqib Raza replaced Ammara Khan on Dec 9, 2021. The government had appointed Ammara Khan in March 2021 as DG PDA and attached great expectations with her.

And now when Mohammad Ali Asghar replaced Saqib Raza, the PDA officers and employees refused to work with him, saying he was junior to many other officers in PDA.

“The government is just joking with us and the PDA. The DG position is of BPS-20 and it sent a junior officer of BPS-18,” a protesting officer told The News. He said they launched the protest last Monday and would continue it until the government withdrew its decision.

However, some officials told The News that Mohammad Ali Asghar was in BPS-19 and he was not the first one to serve PDA in BPS-19.

“There is no doubt DG PDA is a BPS-20 scheduled position but many officers of BPS-19 have served the civic body in the past. Mohammad Ali Asghar is a very good officer and had previously served as deputy commissioner Peshawar and my opinion is he can better serve PDA than his predecessors,” one official of the PDA told The News on condition of anonymity.

He said as per the amendment to the PDA Act of February 2021, the chief minister can appoint anyone from a panel of three officers of BPS-20 or BPS-19, sent to him by the secretary Local Council Board, as DG PDA. PDA Officers Association President Abdul Ghafoor Khan said there were three officers of BPS-20 and 23 officers of BPS-19 in PDA, and the government sent an officer of BPS-18 and asked them to work under him.

“How is it possible that a BPS-18 officer will write the ACR of BPS-20 and BPS-19. We are not against anyone but since it’s a BPS-20 position therefore the government should not hurt senior employees of the PDA,” he said. Abdul Ghafoor said sending a junior officer to PDA had sent a wave of shock and concern among the officers.

“The government should take it seriously as a non-technical person from PDA was made project director of BRT and agreed to complete the project in six months which was supposed to be accomplished in three years,” Abdul Ghafoor, an engineer by profession, said.

He said from Monday, they would be joined by KP engineers in their protest, saying their struggle was for the promotion of their institutions and merit-based decisions.

He rejected reports that Mohammad Ali Asghar was of BPS-19, saying he was of 39th batch and his seniority was 145 in the officers of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), previously known as District Management Group (DMG). He said he had not even attended a mid-career course required for promotion to BPS-19.

“If he had attended the mid-career course, we would not have objected to his appointment,” president of the PDA officers association argued. Some of the officers in PDA told The News Mohammad Ali Asghar would be helpful for PDA and some crucial projects that the previous director generals ignored during tenures.

“He has the capacity to restore the image of PDA and execute some important projects including the long-delayed road that is supposed to link the heavy traffic with Frontier Road and divert it from Hayatabad. Also, Mohammad Ali Asghar has better plans for the Regi Model Town that suffered due to the long ignorance of the government and particularly the previous heads of PDA,” the officer maintained.