September 4, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 6, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 3: The management of Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM) has axed 60 to 70 per cent of its total staff over the last couple of years to transform it into a viable institution, official sources told Dawn.

The sources said since the establishment of the PBM in 1991, it had been stuffed with political appointees ranging from grade IV to grade 19. Therefore, to transform it into a viable institution, the present administration has fired a significant number of the staff at federal, provincial and district levels, they added.

The PBM managing-director, Sarfaraz Ahmad, told this reporter that he had removed about 130 senior officials besides the low ranking staff on the grounds of inefficiency.

Mr Ahmad said when he took over as PBM managing-director a couple of years ago, it was overcrowded with employees of all ranks, whereas on the hand, nothing was being done on ground. Therefore, he added, with the approval of the ministry of social welfare special monitoring teams were constituted to assess the performance of the employees at all levels.

Answering a question, he said, everybody was given enough time to prove their worth before removal. He said the terminated officials were putting pressure on the PBM through legislators of their respective constituencies for reinstatement. However, the PBM didn’t cave into their pressure and informed the prime minister in this regard, he added.

He said since the establishment of the PBM, its funds were plundered by the management owing to lack of administrative infrastructure, hence it remained ineffective over the years.

Mr Ahmad said influential people - be they politicians or bureaucrats - were found directly or indirectly involved in most cases of corruption.

Referring to a special case, he said, ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif directed the PBM through a special letter to pay the school fee of two children of a rich person who were studying in Murree. He said there were a number of such cases where known wealthy people were obliged through the PBM’s funding by the successive governments.

He said with the revamping of the PBM, money has started reaching the deserving people and more and more applications were coming in for financial assistance.

Mr Ahmad also told this reporter that Pakistan Baitul Mal was in contact with the organisations that offered financial assistance to the needy people to formulate a joint strategy so that more and more people could be benefited.