Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: While showing solidarity with protesting employees of Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Chaudhary Ilyas Mehrban Friday said that instead of keeping himself engage in flattering ouster prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Capital Administration and Development (CADD) Minister Tariq Fazal should concentrate on real issues of his ministry.
Addressing the protesting daily wager of the FDE in front of the National Press Club, he demanded their job regularisation as well as release of their pending salaries that were stopped since June last year.

Chaudhary Mehrban said that the government should make a comprehensive policy to address the grievance of the employees, saying it is their legal right and the government instead of making anti-employees policies should devise employee-friendly strategies. He said that CADD Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhary was least bothered towards the plight of the wretched staffers. “If teachers continue their strike, academic activities in all educational institutes may suffer badly,” he said, adding that the minster should wake up to tackle the situation.The FDE has 423 educational institutes across the capital. There are around 2,250 daily wagers working in different institutes of the FDE. They have been fighting for their rights to regularise their service from 2009 but still in vain.

Earlier, many forums, including Supreme Court, lower courts and standing committees of both the houses had issued directives for regularisations of the employees.In 2009, a committee led by Syed Khursid Shah of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for Regularisation of Contractual Employees directed authorities concerned for regularisations of more than 100,000 daily wagers who had been working at various federal departments and ministries.A few years ago, as per the information, the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Ministry regularised thousands of employees in the light of the committee’s recommendations at Polyclinic, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and other allied departments.Furthermore, after coming into power in 2013, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government regularised over 11,000 employees of various cadres working in different federal entities.Besides, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training also confirmed regularisation of 63 employees having cadres of assistant field officer, assistant director, deputy director and director.

Moreover, according to the sources, the FDE also has a large number of vacant slots. “If the government, including CADD minster, adjust these daily wagers against the vacant slots, the situation can be managed very easily but actually they don’t want to do it. Instead, political appointments would be made against vacant slots,” said a FDE official, wishing anonymity.

Published in Daily Times, January 13^th 2017.