The oldest government department in the sub-continent, the Pakistan Post Office, is unfairly distributing welfare funds among its staff which is concerning for postal employees, Pakistan Today has learnt. Low-grade officers, from grade 1 to 15, are not the beneficiaries of the welfare schemes for postal officers and most of the funds are consumed by Islamabad director general’s (DG) office although the low-grade officers are the backbone of the department and run the postal network across the country.
Although all employees can apply for loans in order to buy vehicles or houses or to construct houses up to the amount of their 36 salaries, most of the low grade staffers are waiting in the loan queue for the last 10 years. The officers who managed to get their loan applications approved after waiting for years, did not get installments in 2010 and 2011 because they do not have sources or contacts with the higher-ups.
On the other hand, there is almost no queue for officers in the DG office, including post office union leaders of Islamabad. The DG himself breaks the ‘queue’ when he gives officers loans out of turn, without merit or to officers he obliges for personal reasons or upon the government’s pressure. Punjab Central Circle Post Office employees, while talking to Pakistan Today, said Secretary Postal Services and Director General Raja Ikramul Haq breaks the queue to oblige his favourite staff or employees recommended by influential politicians.
They said quarterly funds were released under the scheme but not many got their share. They said in the last quarter, (3 months) funds worth Rs 1 million were released but no low-grade employee was given any funds in central Punjab or elsewhere and the DG spent the funds on cases of his choice in Islamabad and people kept waiting in the queue.
They said now the new quarter had begun and funds worth Rs 8 million had been released under the scheme but until now, Punjab postal employees had not got any funds and the money was being distributed among Islamabad postal employees by breaking the queue, without any merit and in accordance with the DG’s whims.
Quoting an instance, the post office staff said in 2010, the DG gave a bonus equivalent to the employees’ salaries to his directorate staff after the Islamabad union gave him an iftar party during last Ramzan while other employees in the country were given bonuses ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 15,000 only. They said the DG had strong government support as he was a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) man.
The department started handing out employees loans in order to buy bicycles and motorcycles and stopped providing postal officers with free bicycles like it did before, they added. A Lahore GPO employee said he got Rs 100,000 as the first installment in order to financially aid him to construct a house in 2009 but ironically that was the only installment that he got until now despite funds being released every 3 months under the new scheme.
A grade 7 employee said he applied for loan 5 years ago but the queue had perhaps ‘frozen’ in the last two years and his case had not been approved yet. He alleged that his colleague who had links with a PPP MNA had got the loan after talking to the DG. Officers in the Lahore GPO said in other provinces, the situation was similar because the DG supported the Islamabad union as they did not raise their voices against the scheme’s dynamics as they were given Rs 40,000 to 45,000 without any queue.
They said the Punjab union was ineffective without the Islamabad union’s support so they had taken a vow of silence and had stopped grieving. DG Ikramul Haq was not available for comments despite several phone calls in his Islamabad office.
Pakistan Post DG breaks the ‘queue’
