June 01, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 31: The ministry of water and power is planning to retrench most of the staff of Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB), one of its subordinate organisations.

Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf, who also holds the charge of chairman AEDB, confirmed this while talking to Dawn after a press conference on Saturday.

AEDB is an autonomous agency working under the government’s administrative control for the promotion of environment-friendly energy alternatives particularly solar and wind.

It is suspected that the axe may fall on about 110 AEDB employees, including 50 whose services were regularised by the AEDB Board of Governors in December last year after they had served the organisation for several years.

The summary for the removal of the staff is believed to have been initiated by additional secretary ministry of water and power Yousuf Memon, who is currently holding the additional charge of chief executive officer AEDB and was among the board members who had approved the regularisation of the 50 employees. Prominent among others who had approved the appointment of these employees and ratified it at a subsequent board meeting included senior representatives of Planning Commission, ministry of water and power, ministry of finance and Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan.

The grounds being made for retrenchment of such a large number of AEDB employees is alleged inefficiency even though their induction was approved by the board after a thorough appraisal of their performance and contributions for the organisation.

The organisation is on track to set up the first wind mill farm later this year despite the delays caused in tariff determination by the regulatory authorities.

Earlier, former AEDB chief executive officer Air Marshal (retd) Shahid Hamid’s contract was also prematurely revoked. Air Marshal Hamid was the key figure behind bringing Zorlu Energy and a number of other foreign investors to Pakistan.

Interestingly, Mr Memon, a bureaucrat, who succeeded him in the office doesn’t qualify the requirements laid down for this position in the AEDB ordinance, which stipulates that only a renowned engineering professional can be appointed on the post.