LAHORE, Feb 25: Scientists and technologists working in the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) complain that they are being denied the perks and privileges available to their counterparts in research institutes like Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL), Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco).

They said promotions were very slow and involved a cumbersome procedure thus making the scientists demotivated.

The sense of deprivation is so strong that most of the scientists have left the institution for greener pastures abroad, creating a shortage of senior researchers at the organisation, while the few remaining ones are looking for similar options.

“In South Korea, China and other developed and developing countries scientists, engineers and technologists are given honour and respect contrary to here. Even our counterparts working in the PAEC, the KRL and Suparco are enjoying a decent living standard,” a senior scientist associated with the PCSIR laboratories in Lahore said.

He said that PCSIR employees’ emoluments were half from their counterparts in other research institutions, though the former covered a range of fields and the latter were limited to a particular field.

“Most of the small and medium enterprises working in the country have been established with the assistance of the PCSIR. The organisation can help increase country’s exports and contribute in poverty eradication if its employees are encouraged by giving them their due share,” he said.

Initial pay scales given to scientists working in other ‘privileged’ organisations are more or less 40 percent higher than that of those associated with the PCSIR, he claimed, adding that the farmer’s allowances were also exempt from tax.

“They are paid tax-free technical and project allowances at the rate of 30 percent of their basic pay. These allowances are not given to PCSIR workers though they did the same work,” he said.

All employees of the PAEC and others are also being given personal staff allowance and this stipend too is not given to PCSIR employees.

House requisition is also applicable to all but PCSIR men and thus is another cause of heart burning.

“A grade-17 officer starts his career in the PAEC at Rs27,000 per month salary, while PCSIR employees start their career at a Rs13,000 per month salary.”

The salaries of officers working in 18, 19 and 20 grades in other institutes are double from the take-home salaries of PCSIR people.

In the PAEC or the KRL, a BPS-17 employee is promoted to the next scale after five years of service and in the PCSIR only the lucky ones can get promotions after serving for six years in BPS-17.

Similarly, promotions in the ‘privileged’ research bodies are given to all those who completed seven years in BPS-18 and five years in BPS-19. This career advancement has been denied to PCSIR officials as here scientists have to await their turn for 16 years to be promoted from BPS-18 to BPS-19.

“It is for this reason that a number of highly qualified and experienced scientists have left the PCSIR and gone abroad or joined other organisations for attractive packages,” the senior researcher said.

He said many officials who had left the PCSIR were now drawing salaries in six figures. Dr Sylvia Benjamin was working with the FC College University and Dr Fazal Ahmad Khalid GIK Institute in Topi.

Similarly, Dr Anwarul Hassan, Dr Fayyazur Rahman, Mujahid Sherazi, Zahid Chaudhry, Dr Asad Ali Shah and Shahen Wasti have left for Canada or the US. Many others are in line to go abroad, he said.

The Higher Education Commission had upgraded university faculties even though their qualifications were same or even less than that of the scientists working in research and development institutes, he said.

He said that pathetic working conditions at the PCSIR laboratories could be ascertained from the fact that senior officials had advised scientists and engineers to boil water supplied to them at their offices before consuming it.