The employees of Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) – a literary organisation, working under the administrative control of Ministry of National Heritage and Integration are in further trouble as they have not been able to get their monthly salary till February 11th. According to sources over 50 staff employees of PAL are likely to suffer financial problems till the 15th of this month because of non-release of quarterly grant from finance division while PAL is still working without its administrative head for the last one year.
The Institution was handed over to the ministry of National Heritage and Integration almost six months ago even after receiving many complaints from writers all over the country to place PAL under the administrative control of Cabinet Division or PM Secretariat. Now the ministry is taking no steps for the welfare of its employees and is neither able to run its ongoing projects while Faiz Ahmed Faiz Auditorium construction is in the doldrums for the last 3 years. Thus this national institution is on the verge of destruction.
According to insiders, the quarterly grant from Ministry of National Heritage and Integration has not yet been sanctioned from the finance division. “How could a lower staffer like me, who is already suffering with innumerable financial problems meet the monthly expenses when we will receive our monthly salary at the middle of this month,” said a lower grade employee of PAL while talking to this scribe. He said the expenses of family in particular and school fee of children have to be submitted till February 5.
Sources said that staff members of Lok Virsa, PNCA and employees of 14 other divisions working under the said federal ministry will also suffer. Earlier, the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) members of Rawalpindi and Islamabad occupied the roads and various forums demanding the government to place the PAL under the administrative control of Prime Minister Secretariat or Cabinet Division.
They were of the view that it was sheer injustice to the writers as the government put the administrative control of PAL under the newly established Ministry of National Heritage and Integration, which has no capacity to run the affairs of PAL.
They said the prime minister should supervise the PAL directly so that the honour of Pakistani writers and poets is upheld. The writers questioned how the newly created Ministry of National Heritage and Integration, comprising of only 5 officers and a minister, could run the affairs of an academy which was supposed to deal with thousands of writers and intellectuals of the country. They considered placing PAL under the newly created ministry as the first step towards the demolition of PAL.
A writer of the federal capital said that in other countries, such institutions were personally supervised by the heads of the state but in Pakistan, the men of letters and literary organisations were ignored by the government. “Today PAL is in such a precarious condition that the honourarium of the needy writers and their bereaved families have been stopped for the last four months. The emergency financial assistance is also not being provided,” he said adding the ministry has not been able to give salary to its employees, how could it be able to work for the welfare of veteran retired writers of the twin cities.
He also appealed that a senior writer or poet should be appointed as the PAL chairman or director general of PAL with immediate effect so that the matters of PAL could be looked after properly.
It is pertinent to mention that the positions of PAL chairman and DG have been lying vacant for the last several months and all literary work has come to a halt, while the writers were not being paid honorarium for the last four months.
Moreover, the Faiz Ahmed Faiz auditorium, being built on the premises of PAL over the last three years, was also facing a shortage of funds.
The state-of-the-art auditorium was scheduled for completion in February 2011 on the 100th birth anniversary of Faiz, but its construction was stopped in February 2009 due to the lack of interest on the part of government. The auditorium has been left in ruins and a further delay in the construction work could cause a lot of damage to its structure, which will result in increasing its finishing cost. This auditorium needs special attention by the government.
Earlier, PAL was an attached department of the Education Ministry and after the devolution of the Education Ministry to provinces, PAL was placed under the control of Cabinet Division, however, recently, the prime minister put its control under the newly created Ministry of National Heritage and Integration.
