KARACHI, Aug 28: Despite the merger of the defunct KDA’s assets worth billions of rupees with the city government, its employees are facing a second-class treatment and the majority of 5000 officers and staff of the defunct KDA have not received their salaries for the months of July.

The staff belonging to different departments of the defunct KDA have also staged protest demonstrations against the attitude of the city government towards them, as the city government employees from the defunct KMC or Sindh government are getting paid regularly.

Nearly all the departments of the defunct KDA have been merged with the relevant departments of the city government, and its head office at the Civic Centre has been converted into the city government’s head office. But the monthly package of approximately Rs40 million for these employees is not being paid on a regular basis.

Though, some of them belonging to grade 1 to 10 have received their salaries for the previous month, the majority of the 5000 employees have not been so fortunate. Even the former DG of the defunct body, who is now the EDO works and services has not received his salary for the past three months.

A number of complaints have been forwarded in this regard and to resolve the issue the city government has formed a committee comprising director finance defunct KDA, Irshad Ahmed, and two DOs from the city government’s finance department, Altaf Bijrani and Rehan Khan.

According to the members of the committee, numerous proposals have been put forward regarding revenue generation for the city government, including the change of land utilisation fee, which is charging of the prescribed fee from those who have converted their residential units into commercial places. But all these have been ignored by the city government.

The proposal is expected to be put forward by the three- member committee on the grounds that it is nearly impossible to demolish shops and workshops established by residents and builders in residential areas, however the change of land use can be charged since other utility agencies are charging them commercial rates. Nevertheless, it is up to the city Nazim and DCO Karachi to make the final decision.

Meanwhile, the employees of four departments of the defunct KDA, the Traffic Engineering Bureau, The Master Planning Department, the Design Bureau and the Karachi Mass Transit Program (KMTP), are continuously facing the problem of delayed salary .

The reason for the delay is that their salaries were previously being paid by the Karachi Building Control Authority, now under the provincial government, whereas the TEB now is under the transport and communication department of the city government, the Design Bureau and the Master Plan are under the master planning department of the city government and the KMTP is also under the city government.

TCD officials point out that the worst problem faced by the employees of the defunct TEB is that their CP fund and pension funds are not being deposited by the KBCA which is only releasing their salaries. The family members of Asif Raza, who died about two years back, are still trying to get his pension released from the department and the same are the cases of Shabbir Hussain and Mubeen Khan who have retired.

Moreover, in keeping with the tradition of the defunct KDA, about Rs1.25 million were allocated in the city government’s budget for its employees to perform Haj. The final note sheet for 12 employees to perform Haj through balloting has been cancelled by the city Nazim on the grounds that the employees belonging to the defunct KMC or those from the Sindh government and now serving in the city government, must also be given a chance to participate in such schemes.

The EDO finance had signed the approval that money was available in the defunct KDA’s head for 12 persons to perform Haj through balloting and the Nazim Karachi, in his remarks on 15th of this month, had asked the DCO to go through the process once again and do it in a way that others (defunct KMC) might not object.

The CBA union of the defunct KDA has expressed resentment over this state of affairs.—PPI