ISLAMABAD: The completion of the much delayed census has put the jobs of 1,045 employees of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) at stake.

After receiving a letter from the Finance Division in which the proposal for extending employee contracts were turned down, 345 statistical analysts who were called to Islamabad from across the country to complete the data processing of the census forms stopped working.

However, PBS Director General Bashir Janjua said it has been decided to take the matter up with the ministries of finance and statistics and that a request for allowing staff to continue working will be made as funds for their salaries are already available.

According to a letter sent by the Ministry of Statistics, available with Dawn, a proposal was sent to the Finance Division for allowing the continuation of 1,045 temporary posts from July 1, 2017 to June 6, 2018. The Finance Division has turned down the proposal and extended the contracts till Feb 28 next year with advice to complete the census activities and making the necessary arrangements during this period.

Though 1,045 employees have been working since 2008, their services have not been regularised

Issued with the approval of the Secretary Finance, the letter from the finance ministry clearly says that an extension in contracts will not be allowed and that PBS has been requested to take necessary action accordingly.

Talking to Dawn, one of the statistical assistants said the staff was appointed in 2008 and has been working since.

“We have been working in Islamabad but since we learnt that we will be laid off by the end of February, no one is interested in work. During the last two days, Chief Statistician Asif Bajwa and DG Admin Bashir Janjua and a number of other officers have visited us and tried to convince us,” he said.

“According to the rules, any employee who works for more than 89 days should be regularised but we have been working as temporary employees for the last many years and no one has bothered to address our issues.

Even those who have retired from the PBS are working in the bureau on important posts but they are not ready to accept us,” he said.

The statistical assistant said a number of efforts have been made in the past for regularising temporary employees and that the efforts failed because of a few officers.

“We have been in a lot of stress as have our families. The government and other decision makers should take notice of our issue,” he said.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Janjua said 1,045 seats were created in 2008 on which employees were appointed.

“The finance ministry allocates budget for the employees every year. A budget was also issued for this year which included salaries for the whole year but when we sought extensions in contracts, we were told the employees will be laid off by the end of February,” he said.

It would seem that the finance ministry has issued the letter in confusion and they seem to think the census has been completed and that the employees’ jobs are therefore done.

We need their services and we have sufficient funds for their salaries, he added.

Mr Janjua said another request will be sent to the finance ministry for granting extensions to the employees’ contracts and suggested the employees should not panic and should continue to work.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2017