ISLAMABAD, April 19: Employees of the Pakistan Television have alleged that “irregularities” committed by managerial staff were causing losses to the state-run corporation and spreading disaffection among its employees.

In a letter, copy of which is available with Dawn, the All PTV Employees and Workers Union urged Information Minister Sheikh Rashid and PTV Managing Director Arshad Khan to investigate the charge and bring the guilty to justice.

“Otherwise we will move the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against these officials,” the union warned.

It alleged that PTV accounts were being forged to hide the losses of its marketing department, where some foreign experts and consultants were hired at fat salaries to bring business.

Parvaiz Ahmed Bhatti, the union’s secretary general, claimed that to cover up their failure to increase PTV’s income, the accounts were being fudged. He alleged that Rs400 million extra that the PTV collected, above a target figure of Rs2.1 billion, through the Rs25 that electricity consumers are charged every month in place of PTV license fee, was being shown in budgetary documents as the fruits of the work of the marketing department.

Bhatti also alleged that PTV bought for Rs6 million a poor, privately produced TV drama for which competitive private channels were not willing to pay even Rs2 million because of its bad quality.

He charged that kick-backs and commissions were being taken in the procurement of materials by PTV for maintenance purposes.

“There are only three companies from which PTV buys such items without inviting any tenders through newspapers. This is a corrupt practice and must be probed,” he said.

The union claims it has evidence of scams in the medical facilities the corporation provides to its employees.

“There are officials who have been promoted five times in a single year because they allowed some high officials to misuse the medical facilities,” it alleges.

The union said when it tried to take officials involved in the scam to courts for accountability, some high PTV officials hired expensive lawyers to save them.

“There are no rules for promotion of staff. Ex-cadre posts, group awards and increments are awarded to favourite employees while those who do hard work are omitted and ignored”, the union has informed the authorities.

Mr Bhatti said the employees’ charter of demands is pending with the management for the past three years. “The salaries of the contractual employees have been increased twice, but the permanent employees are stuck to the old salary package. A good number of officers on reaching the age of retirement were given extensions, thus blocking young officers’ promotion. A number of retired officers have been re-employed in the position they last held in violation of rules which permit reemployment but in a lower position, he said.

The union alleged that a private company started by some high ups of PTV was charging the PTV for the services of security guards who never come to duty.