THE unemployment problem might aggravate further as the Federal Cabinet has reportedly approved abolition of about one hundred and fifty thousand vacant posts in different ministries and departments. The lower strata of the society is feared to suffer more as the initiative of the Government includes drastically reducing the number of posts in Grade-1 to 16 as a decision has been taken to outsource all posts concerning general, non-core services including cleaning, plumbing, gardening etc. In addition, the cabinet has also decided to abolish all contingency posts in ministries and divisions in line with its policy of saving maximum expenditure.
No doubt, there is redundancy in different ministries and institutions where posts were created not on merit but just to accommodate blue-eyed people. This approach pushed some of the otherwise proud national institutions like PIA, Pakistan Railways, WAPDA and Steel Mills to the brink of disaster. Therefore, apart from getting rid of superfluous posts, there is also a need to thoroughly review the process of creation of new posts and hiring of manpower either on a regular or contract basis, making it truly transparent and fair. There is definitely logic in abolition of the posts but the ongoing process seems to have been evolved in haste as it is not well-considered or based on merit. We have been emphasizing in these columns that not all posts were unnecessary as many of them remained vacant due to continuation of the ban on fresh recruitment or centralization of the powers to allow new recruitments. In some ministries and departments, entire cadres have become vacant due to a long-running ban on recruitment and as a result their core functioning is affected badly. Unfortunately, the exercise is being carried out at a time when people are economically overburdened and are running from pillar to post to secure an employment opportunity. The problem would compound further as apart from abolition of such a large number of posts, the Government is also implementing the right-sizing plan, which will render thousands more surplus. Instead of outright abolition of vacancies, the employees being transferred to the surplus pool should have been adjusted against these posts subject to fulfilment of the required criteria. This should have been done even if it involved specialized training and orientation courses for adjustment of the surplus staff against these vacancies. The Government should better review its decision and amend the policy in the interest of the affected employees as well as the output of the ministries and departments.
