IESCO inducts two ‘big guns’ on hefty salaries

Despite making a hue and cry about a severe financial crisis, the Board of Directors (BoD) of Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) has appointed two officials on senior most posts with hefty salaries, by ignoring the eligible officers which were already serving in the company for last many years, Pakistan Today has learnt.
An IESCO official told Pakistan Today that a strong resentment had been showed by the staffers of IESCO against the newly-appointed Company Secretary Naeem and Consultant Taxation Rehan, because the Board of Directors had hired both the officers on salaries of more than Rs 0.2 million each.
“Other officials of the same grade in the company are getting around 0.1 million, but the newly-hired blue-eyed will receive more than double,” said the source.
He informed this scribe that one of the two officials was an assistant director in IESCO and terminated by the company in past, adding that it raised many eyebrows that why the BoD had once again inducted him not on his previous post, but as a most senior official.
The IESCO Board of Directors is a body which makes decisions of the electricity company and it comprises of 13 members from the government and WAPDA. In IESCO, he said, most competitive chief engineers and other high ranked officials were serving but it was beyond thinking that why the authority have ignored all of them. He also said that some of the chief engineers of IESCO had also been trying to get appointed on senior posts in electricity companies of other cities like Multan due to the discriminatory attitude with them.
He said on one hand, the WAPDA had been looting common masses by imposing Fuel Adjustment Price (FPA) on their bills and on the other the IESCO BoD had been appointing extra staff on such huge salaries which was unjustified. He expressed fear that decision makers of the IESCO were also mulling to hire new chief officer from outside instead of appointing existing seniors on the same post. “Why the members of IESCO BoD are trying to induct outsiders instead of filling all posts by promoting already serving officers,” he questioned.
It has also been learnt that some of the IESCO officials will take serious stand against the unjust appointments of company secretary and consultant taxation. “Some of the IESCO employees have also decided to stage protests against these appointments and on Monday they may also stage a demo in IESCO’s head office,” source informed.
While talking to Pakistan Today, several employees of the company said that conflicting situation between the water and power ministry and WAPDA employees, particularly of IESCO, can badly affect the company work because the issue of privatisation of IESCO has also become bone of contention between them and such issues which were against the hopes of employees would further affect the work. Despite repeated attempts made by this scribe to contact IESCO spokesman Farooq Ahmad for his comment, he did not receive the call.