January 24, 2006	Tuesday	Zilhaj 23, 1426

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MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 23: The AJK government announced on Monday aimed at providing relief to government employees affected by the Oct 8 earthquake.

The decisions were taken by Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat at a meeting with the representatives of employees.

The prime minister praised the performance of government servants during the earthquake relief and exhorted them to match that role during the rehabilitation of quake victims.

The government, he said, was fully alive to the problems of affected employees and wanted to address them keeping in view its scant resources.

Responding to their demands, the premier announced waiving of house-building advances (HBA) of those employees whose houses had been damaged by the quake and who had also been given ‘compensation money’ by the official committees formed for the purpose.

The car/scooter advance of affected employees would also be written off on verification by their relevant secretary, the prime minister said.

He also announced waiving of both the loans of those employees who had died or rendered handicapped during the quake and added that government jobs would be provided to the heirs of deceased employees on priority basis.

He said those female teachers whose family members had died would be posted at the nearest station from their places of residence on an urgent basis.

A special cash relief, ranging between Rs25,000 and Rs50,000, would be given to those government servants whose official residences or rented accommodations had been razed by the quake, the prime minister said. He directed the S&GAD secretary to constitute a committee, headed by an accountant general, to determine the amount of relief for all such employees.

The prime minister also assured employees that the government would provide them interest-free loans to rebuild their houses.

Regarding provision of a three-month salary as bonus and waiving of scheduled bank loans, he said since the fulfilment of these two demands was beyond the competence of the AJK government; therefore, he would take it up with the federal government.

He directed the S&GAD secretary to write a letter on his behalf to the prime minister about this issue.

The prime minister also directed the S&GAD secretary to relieve officers holding charge of more than one post of additional responsibilities and appoint eligible officials against the vacant posts.

He also directed him to summon a meeting of the selection board at the earliest so as to resolve all pending promotion cases of government servants.

The meeting was also attended by AJK Finance Minister Raja Nisar Ahmed Khan, Secretary Finance Salim Sethi, Secretary Services and General Administration Fayyaz Akhtar Chaudhry and AJK Accountant General Raja Gul Mohammad.