Despite the fact that the Sindh government is facing shortage of funds, more than 100 Sindh Small Industries Corporation (SSIC) employees, who were hired due to their affiliation with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), are drawing heavy salaries without attending office.
These appointments were made during the past couple of years by MQM’s Commerce and Industries ministers Mohammad Adil Siddiqui and Rauf Siddiqui as the department remained in control of the MQM for the last eights to nine years, well-placed sources told Pakistan Today.
The Industries and Commerce Department had objected to inducting these political activists into the SSIC, citing the extra financial burden they would cause on the corporation. However, the MQM ministers, using the position of the SSIC chairman, turned down the objections of the administrative department and appointed these workers by using special powers, the sources added.
The politically-appointed workers have never attended their respective offices and still drawing salaries.
The SSIC is facing a shortage of funds and its employees paid late. Its financial crisis is set to worsen in the coming days due to the extra burden of politically-appointed employees.
The SSIC administration has now started selling its properties just to bear the burden of the extra workers.
Recently, the corporation sold off five plots located at prime locations in Shershah just for Rs. 40.5 million, merely to manage the finances, the sources revealed.
A letter inviting application for the auction, reads, “The Sindh Small Industries Corporation offers five industrial plots, small size each measuring 500 sq yard (approximately) in industrial park on plot No F-53, Hub River Road, SITE area Karachi through open auction for allotments of plots on 99 years for establishment of small industries.”
SSIC too cash-strapped to handle political appointees
