PESHAWAR, Aug 14: The Federally Administered Tribal Areas Secretariat has been employing staff on contractual basis as a way out to bypass the federal bureaucracy’s strict control over the creation of regular posts, according to officials.

Well placed officials told Dawn that hundreds of employees had been employed during the past couple of years for executing several projects created in the name of strengthening various departments and directorates within the secretariat.

“Federal government seldom acknowledges their (senior Fata Secretariat authorities) requests for creating regular posts as a result of which they have chosen an innovative way to serve their appetite for a large establishment,” said an official privy to the matter.

There are, at least, eight projects that are being executed under the Fata’s annual development programme to strengthen secretariat’s departments and directorates. Besides, there are a couple of capacity building and ‘support’ initiatives to improve efficiency and efficacy of the existing entities.

Some of these projects include Rs41.9 million strengthening of administration and coordination department, Rs72 million strengthening of fisheries department project, Rs41 m strengthening of local government directorate, Rs63m strengthening of planning and development department, Rs22m strengthening of Governor’s Inspection team, Rs35 million strengthening of finance department civil secretariat, Rs22.8m strengthening of Fata bureau of statistics, and Rs30m strengthening of Zakat and ushr department civil secretariat.

These projects, said an official, had hired staff and procured fixtures that are at the disposal of the respective departments and directorates.

Since the staff had been hired for the projects on temporary basis, therefore, approval for the creation of the posts against which the hiring had been done was not required from the federal authorities concerned, according to sources.

“What is the need to have strengthening projects when you have full-fledged departments?” said a relevant official, saying the new entities had caused duplication of work in several instances.

They had not been helpful in improving the secretariat’s capacity or efficiency to deliver, said an official. Rather, they had caused burden to the Fata’s development funds as salaries of the staff hired for these strengthening projects were being financed from the tribal areas’ annual development programme.

“Fata secretariat is overstaffed,” said a relevant official. Another said a good number of the staff had no utility as they did not have anything to do.

The secretariat, said another official, had seen a mushroom growth of projects within its four walls, draining out precious public money on procuring fixtures, buying new vehicles, and employing staff on contractual basis.

These had been used as windows to hire staff on contractual basis, bypassing the federal government’s authority to sanction the creation of posts.

Established under a Presidential Order of Nov 16, 2007, Fata Secretariat comes under the States and Frontier Regions Division, Islamabad.

The powers to create regular posts for the Secretariat rest with Safron. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government sends its employees on deputation to serve at the Secretariat under an arrangement in place since the creation of the new entity.

“The Fata Secretariat shall consist of such posts as may be approved by the Federal government from time to time, appointments to which shall be made by the Government of NWFP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) with the approval, or under the authority, of the Governor,” according to the State and Frontier Regions Division’s November 2007 letter to the provincial chief secretary.

Officials said creation of projects had also been financially beneficial to the provincial government employees. Employees on deputation to Fata secretariat, said an official, got hefty special allowances in case of working in a project.

As per official rules, a Basic Pay Scale 20-22 grade officer of the federal or provincial government working in a project is entitled to get Rs50,000 per month as project allowance over and above their normal monthly salary plus deputation allowance at a rate of 20 per cent of the basic pay subject to a maximum of Rs6,000 per month.

The monthly project allowance in the case of a BPS 19 officer is Rs40,000; Rs30,000 for a BPS 17-18 officer; Rs15,000 for BPS-16 official; Rs8,000 for BPS-8 to 15 officials; Rs4,000 for BPS 5 to 10 officials; and Rs2,000 for BPS 1 to 4 employees.

A good number of the project staff, particularly employees working at senior posts, had been on deputation from the provincial government, causing financial benefit for them because of their entitlement to project allowance.

Giving examples of duplication of work, an official referred to the establishment of the directorate of projects in the planning and development department. “The directorate of projects was not needed when you have a full-fledged P&D Department,” said an official.

Similarly, in the presence of the local government directorate an independent entity had been raised to carryout urban centre development project, involving billions of rupees investment that would be made in the years to come to improve urban centers in Fata.

Furthermore, a project to monitor and reconcile electricity bills existed for quite some time in the finance department, but it has not been of any utility because it could not start functioning even though over Rs3.6 million had already been spent on it till the end of June this year.