ISLAMABAD, Aug 21: The Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan has announced a voluntary Golden Handshake Scheme for its regular employees. This one-off offer is meant for all employees in service as on Aug 20, 2002, and is valid up to Sept 5.

Under a conditional loan of US$250 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the government has come under pressure to reduce the employees’ strength as well as operational size of the ADBP to half of what it is now.

As of today, the bank has some 49 regional offices and 350 branches all over the country. The scheme, as approved by the SBP, would cut the number of regional offices to 25 and branches to less than 200.

The scheme is part of the restructuring exercise aimed at operating the institution as a commercially viable entity.

The executives/officers volunteering to retire will receive 2.5 months’ basic pay for each completed year of service or 1.25 months’ basic pay for each remaining month of service, which is less, subject to a maximum of 90 months’ basic pay.

The clerical/non-clerical staff with a service of 10 years or more will be entitled to a month’s basic pay for each completed year of service or 2 months’ basic pay for each remaining month of service, whichever is less, subject to a maximum of 100 months’ basic pay. These employees will also be entitled to an additional bonus of Rs50,000.

The scheme offers 100 per cent commutation of pension to a large number of beneficiaries, who would have completed 20 years of service. The voluntary golden handshake scheme, being a one-time offer, shall be irrevocable and cannot be withdrawn. However, the management reserves the right to decide upon options submitted either to accept or reject on case-to-case basis, an official handout said.