May 11, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 5, 1429

KARACHI, May 10: The city government’s plans to make efficient its fire brigade are unlikely to materialise as the fire department has recently witnessed massive irregularity in promotions, where employees including a telephone operator and an ambulance driver have been elevated as fire officers.

The recent decision came as a shock to hundreds of employees of the department and firemen, who have decided to approach the high court to stay the fresh promotions, officials and sources close to the department said.

“The violation has a double impact on the whole system of promotions and careers of firefighters,” said a source citing the fresh orders. “The authorities concerned have not only promoted non-technical employees as fire officers but also allowed out-of-turn promotions to junior workers, which has caused resentment among senior staff members.”

He said the recent order for promotions of more than a dozen employees came as a shock for all staff members, as it heralded the most juniors and non-technical personnel as station officers in Grade 16 and sub-fire officers in Grade 15, which were purely technical and sensitive jobs.

“Sub-fire officer, station officer and fireman’s are jobs that require experience and expertise but it has not been the case while giving promotions in our fire department,” said a senior employee of the department on condition of anonymity.

The fresh orders of promotions executed by the municipal services of the city district government allowed 13 out-of-channel promotions, which were won by junior staff members, he added.

“Apart from such violations of the set promotion system, there is an ambulance driver, a telephone operator, an accounts department official and other staff members, who have no experience of firefighting, have been given the status of sub-fire officer, who not only takes part in firefighting operations but most of the time leads his team,” he added.

A senior official also confirmed that the fresh promotion orders of the fire department staff did not consider the seniority list but ‘professional skills and past performance’ were considered as merit for fresh promotions. However, he could not explain the reason behind the violation of the channel of promotions while compiling a list of the fire department’s employees.

“There is a defined channel of promotion, which explains the way an employee can be promoted,” said a senior employee of the department. “But in fresh orders staffers of Grade 5 and below have directly been promoted to Grades 10, 12 and 15 instead of gradual promotions. The whole exercise seems flawed and based on nepotism, which is needed to be looked into.”

However, he suspected that the fresh move as a deliberate attempt by ‘unseen forces’ to damage the reputation of the city government.

Currently the fire department operates a total of 14 fire stations across the city with only 22 fire tenders and three snorkels. The 900-strong workforce available to the fire department includes administration and other staff.

“We have put this matter before our high-ups and lodged a strong protest but in vain,” said a fire department employee, who claimed to have been deprived of a due promotion. “If such violations continue, we would definitely move the high court initially to win a stay on the promotion orders and then bring the people responsible for such a mess to the court of justice.”