LAHORE: Employees of the Punjab government’s Social Welfare Department have expressed concern over, what they say, ‘worsening working conditions’.

Sources say most employees are facing a great deal of difficulty in performing their duties at various places. The recent transfers and postings of the employees, especially those who have been serving the department for many years, by Director General Afshan Kiran Imtiaz have created unrest among them, they say.

The flurry of transfers and postings at far-off places has a debilitating effect on the performance of the employees who feel there is no forum to register their protest, they say.

The affected employees demand that Chief Minister Usman Buzdar take notice and direct the department higher-ups to reverse the recent transfers or post them near the previous workplaces so that they can continue their jobs with peace of mind.

Recently, sources say, a social welfare officer working on a Community Development Project resigned from her post over what she said “denial of a foreign visit for which she was eminently eligible.”

The officer said she had diligently worked on issues such as women empowerment and eradication of child abuse and delivered multiple trainings in Lahore’s Social Welfare Training Institute. Besides, she said, she represented Pakistan in prestigious programmes abroad but was unfairly denied participation in an event (for which only nine Pakistanis were selected) in Canada.

“The application was returned with an objection and an inquiry launched against her,” she said in a letter to the secretary.

Meanwhile, the department’s DG had recently remained in the headlines in a case of her own transfer.

The Punjab government had transferred Afshan Kiran Imtiaz, an ex-PCS BS-20 officer, on Jan 26 last and directed her to report to the S&GAD. Five days later, the S&GAD posted Ms Imtiaz as the Director Provincial Consumer Protection Council Secretariat. However, she did not relinquish her charge and continued performing as the DG — a post for which the Punjab government finally retained her.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2019