HARIPUR: The yet-to-be adjusted surplus employees of the now defunct Haripur district council have been without salary for last four months.

This is despite the fact the office of the secretary local government, Peshawar had written a letter to the secretary finance to allow the deputy commissioner to disburse the salary to employees till their final adjustment, official sources said here on Tuesday.

They said in 2019 the district councils were abolished after the Local Government Act was amended by the then PTI government, and the employees were to be adjusted either in tehsil municipal administrations or the office of assistant director local government. However, they added, 16 employees of different cadres remained unadjusted, but they continued to draw salaries from the office of assistant director local government, Haripur, till July 2023. However, the AD local government abruptly stopped their salary in August.

The sources said the matter of their adjustment had been pending with the finance department, which was expected to be decided by the caretaker government within a few days.

Talking to reporters at the Haripur Press Club, the affected employees said they were unable to run their kitchens and pay school fees of their children due to non-payment of salary.

Assistant director local government Gohar Ali could not be contacted for his comments. However, an official of his office confirmed the employees were not drawing salaries due to procedural delays in their adjustment in the local government department, and shortage of funds. The official said the employees of district councils had been adjusted in TMAs, but a few of them, who opted to be adjusted in the local government department, were awaiting adjustment. Abdul Rasheed Gujjar, a former assistant director local government, told Dawn that 16 employees of the defunct district council were declared surplus, and were to be adjusted in TMA Haripur, but the latter had refused to adjust them as it was facing financial problems.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2023