ABBOTTABAD: The Cantonment Board, Abbottabad, has terminated the services of 67 contract employees while a list of 115 more is being finalised.

According to the sacked employees, the board’s newly-appointed chief executive officer has ordered removal of the entire staff of the enforcement squad appointed for revenue generation without issuing any show cause notice to them. They alleged that they had been victimised for being appointed on contract by the previous CEO.

The affected employees said that they were responsible for checking violation of construction rules, encroachments, sanitation and revenue generation. They claimed that revenue generation was enhanced to a reasonable level and sanitation system improved during the previous management.

Affected workers say no show cause notice issued to them

Meanwhile, member of the board’s assessment committee and building committee, Mohammad Zaman, resigned from both the slots. He alleged that despite his objection as member building committee PTI leader Ali Asghar Khan constructed a multi-storey plaza illegally with the connivance of the board staff.

“On the one side the cantonment board staff takes action against minor violations in residential areas, on the other no action has been taken against the PTI leader for erecting illegal plaza,” Mr Zaman said. He claimed that another influential person had been encroaching nullah near the Alpine hotel with the connivance of board.

When contacted, the board’s vice-chairman Sardar Zulfiqar Ali confirmed that the process of removal of over 160 employees of the Cantonment Board, Abbottabad, had been started and most of the contract employees had received termination letters. He admitted that performance of the board in sanitation and water supply had suffered due to shortage of staff as the existing staff was not sufficient for the task.

‘YA QURBAN’ CONTEST: Zain Ali won Rasheed Hazarvi Award in Hindko singing while Gul Bahadur grabbed Ustad Zahir Khan Swati Award in Pashto in “Ya Qurban” competition organised as part of the talent hunt by the culture department at the Jalal Baba Auditorium here.

As many as 94 young singers from Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra and Battagram participated in the contest. Singers and artistes of Hazara attended the event besides local administration officials and deputy director of cultural department Ajmal Khan. Abbottabad Deputy Commissioner Khalid Mehmood was the chief and distributed awards among the position holders.

In Hindko contest, Zain Ali stood first, Mahnoor second and Hashar third. In Pashto category, Gul Bahadur bagged first position, Zahir Swati second and Niaz Gul grabbed third spot. The winners received cash awards of Rs100,000, Rs75,000 and Rs50,000 respectively .

The top three position-holders of seven divisions of the province will participate in the final contest to be held at Nishtar Hall, Peshawar, on Dec 10 in which three top position holders will get Ahmed Khan Ustad Award besides cash awards of Rs300,000, Rs 200,000 and Rs100,000 respectively.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2015