THE Federal Cabinet, which met in Islamabad on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan, deliberated upon some important issues – expressing concern over lack of progress on installation of new telemetry system for equitable distribution of water among provinces, delay in payment of dues to media houses, lists of alleged illegal appointments in federal government ministries/divisions/departments and outsourcing of the country’s airports.
Installation of telemetry system was a requirement as per water apportionment accord of 1991(among the provinces) and in 2004 Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) installed the one to measure depth-of-flow at various key locations along the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) and to transmit the data electronically. Automation of the measurement and the reporting process should have led to amicable settlement of differences over flow and apportionment of water at various locations and to provinces but the arrangement could not deliver either flaws in the system itself or reservations of the stakeholders especially Indus River System Authority (IRSA), which seems to be more concerned about its discretionary powers than resolution of the disputes in the framework of a fully automated and transparent system. Now that process is underway for removal of three members of IRSA and the Prime Minister has issued new guidelines for expeditious installation of the new system, it is hoped that this will be done in a fair and transparent manner so as to put to rest all sorts of conspiracy theories in distribution of precious water for all times to come. As for outsourcing of the country’s airports, the Cabinet deserves appreciation for not entertaining a recommendation for immediate outsourcing as the country was not expected to get due income from the move because of lack of aviation activity due to Covid-19. Quality management of airports is crucial in the aviation world and present conditions at almost all airports are somewhat pathetic, requiring involvement of experienced firms. However, the objective would remain unfulfilled if any hasty step was taken or transparency standards were compromised for vested interests as we have witnessed in a number of cases in the past. Job security of those working at airports must also be ensured and hopefully the assurance given by Information Minister Shibli Faraz in this regard would translate into reality during the entire process. The issue of alleged ‘illegal’ appointments in Federal Government Ministries, Divisions and Departments is highly sensitive and needs to be handled in a way that does not convey the impression of political victimization. Of course, there should be no room for appointments made in violation of rules and regulations and action should be taken against those involved in the process of recruitment. However, we have observed in the past that appointments made during tenure of one government are either overturned or they are made controversial by its successor just for the sake of point-scoring. The ultimate losers are candidates/employees who were selected on merit and through a defined process but they become victims of political vendetta. According to reports, some ministries and departments submitted lists of 638 employees who were allegedly appointed in violation of laid down procedure and the Cabinet asked the remaining ministries to submit their lists as well within a week. The lists should be verified and scrutinized minutely so that no injustice is done to anyone and all those who were otherwise qualified for the post and are rendering satisfactory services must not suffer. It is also a fact that at some points in the past jobs were on the sale jeopardizing merit and quality in government service and with this in view a highly transparent procedure for recruitment should be devised and implemented by PTI Government, which attaches priority to merit and transparency. It also augurs well that Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed all ministries and departments to clear dues of all media houses before Eid-ul-Fitr. Directions for expeditious clearance of dues were given in the past as well but they remained unrealized for various reasons resulting into multiplication of problems for newspapers especially small ones that are finding it hard to even survive in the resource crunch triggered by Covid-19. A few days are left for Eid but we hope the Information Ministry and Press Information Department would take extra pains to give practical shape to the directive of the Prime Minister in this regard so that media workers are paid their salaries before the festival.
