ONE of the main reasons behind worsening situation of the public sector organizations is the lacklustre behaviour of employees who consider receiving salaries their birth right but are not ready to honestly perform their duties.
A good number of them even do not turn up in the offices but are receiving the emoluments in their bank accounts.
The very audit report of Utility Stores Corporation (USC) has once again exposed the seriousness of the problem.
According to the audit of the USC for the year 2019-2020, 9,756 employees are working in the organisation’s 42 regions against the sanctioned or authorized strength of 7,662.
Hence, 2,094 employees are an extra burden on the already cash-strapped organisation and that the USC did not share details of excess employees with the auditors.
The report noted that the possibility of ghost employees in the appointments, therefore, could not be ignored.
In the past also one would have heard the presence of ghost employees in several other important public sector departments.
Especially the education sector has been hit the hardest where the figure of ghost employees run in thousands across the country.
If the government is really interested in improving the performance of departments, it first of all, must initiate strict action against the ghost employees who deserve no mercy whatsoever.
They should not only be removed but also the salaries they received over the years should also be taken back from them. In recent months, the government removed thousands of public sector employees working on a contract basis.
This created resentment amongst them and they also knocked at the doors of the courts to get themselves reinstated.
Instead of removing these employees who had been performing their duties honestly, it would have been far better if the axe had fallen on the ghost employees who, in fact, are a burden on the national kitty. It is an era of technology.
On the pattern of private sector, the government must ensure instalment of biometric machines in all the departments to ensure the attendance of employees. Then their promotions must be linked with performance.
