KARACHI, May 12: Overwhelming majority of the employees of the Directorate General of Archaeology and Museums has expressed concern over the proposed shifting of the office from Karachi to Islamabad and urged the authorities to accommodate them in the city, it is learnt.

According to the sources, though there are 92 sanctioned posts — 16 officers and 76 lower staff — in the DGAM, it is working with 85 employees – 12 officers and 73 lower staff at present.

The sources said that more than 60 employees had explained their difficulties against the shifting in writing, with copies of their statements forwarded to the authorities, which had been sent to the Federal Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry in Islamabad.

They said that the issue was also taken up in the national assembly by MNAs Kunwar Khalid Yunus, Abdul Wasim, Dr Abdul Kadir Khanzada, and Devdas, but, as the ministers concerned were not in the House, so it was deferred and now would be taken up in the next session. The ministry had called up a report on the issue from the DGAM.

The sources said that Director-General Dr Fazal Dad Kakar in his report had informed the ministry that out of the 12 officials working in the DGAM in Karachi only three officers — Deputy Director (Admn), Assistant Director (Pub) and Archaeological Conservator (P&D) — besides him, are willing to move to Islamabad where as the remaining officers are not willing to move to the federal capital due to their personal/ family problems.

The employees put forward four major reasons against the shifting stating that spouses of some of the employees are also employed in different organizations and their shifting without families would lay further burden on their already shrunk resources. Another reason is that majority of employees have aged parents, who are solely dependant on them and are not willing to move from Karachi and it is difficult for them to leave their parents unattended.

Many employees have government accommodation in Karachi while others have rented houses, the shifting will deprive them of this facility as it is not possible to get accommodation in the federal capital within permissible allowance, they complained. Their children were studying in different classes and it would affect their education adversely if they were left without proper check or shifted in the middle of their academic session.

Another reason was that living in Karachi was affordable while Islamabad being relatively expensive city, the cost of living would naturally go up beyond their capacity.

Dr Fazal Dad Kakar communication states that the DGAM comprises of administration branch, budget and accounts branch, antiquities trade control branch, professional branch, planning and development branch, epigraphy branch, photographic section, and central archaeological library. These services helped the directorate to perform efficiently, he added.

He said that the headquarters of the director-general of archaeology was shifted to Islamabad without shifting the vital services in 1982. It was practically handicapped to function efficiently and effectively and the purpose of shifting the office could not be achieved, hence, the headquarters of the DG Archaeology should be shifted back to Karachi within a few months.

The ministry decided to shift the DGAM from Karachi to Islamabad as with the manifold increase in the activities of the department it faced difficulties in coordinating things with Islamabad-based UNESCO, diplomatic corps in connection with the cultural events and cultural exchange programmes.

Mr Kakar’s communication says that the director-general and a few (three – four) officers have moved to Islamabad and temporarily set up office in Islamabad Museum since office accommodation had not been hired so far. The remaining 87 employees are yet to be shifted. Keeping in view of the requests from the employees, efforts were made to absorb them in Karachi, but only five low-grade employees could be accommodated in other Karachi-based offices of the department — National Museum of Pakistan, Exploration and Excavation Branch, Quaid-i-Azam House and Quaid-i-Azam Birth Place.