ISLAMABAD, Nov 4 In the name of a strategy to reduce costs, over the last one year Pakistan State Oil (PSO) distributed about Rs80 million among 22 employees who agreed to leave their jobs under a special “golden handshake” scheme.

Answering a question, federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar told the National Assembly on Thursday the package had been offered only to the employees who had voluntarily sought to leave the organisation.

The question was put by Malik Shakir Bashir Awan of the PML-N.

The scheme was introduced in November of 2009 and the PSO had so far paid Rs79.66 million to 22 employees, said the minister. Decreasing profit and increasing payroll cost had compelled the organisation to launch the initiative.

The other reason was the implementation by the ministry of a plan for rightsizing and restructuring, he said.

The major beneficiaries of the scheme were general manager (public relations) Sajjad Asghar K. Shahani, Rs10.94 million; deputy general manager (administration) Abu Khursheed M. Ariff, Rs6.72 million; senior industrial relations executive Mohammad Akhlaque, Rs6.01 million; deputy general manager Sirajuddin Athar, Rs5.1 million; and, senior terminal executive Shoaib Mushtaq Malik, Rs5.4 million.

The other PSO officials who benefited from the scheme included senior audit executive Uzair Rafi, Rs3.76 million; infrastructure engineer Tariq Mirza, Rs3.6 million; imports manager Noor Ahmad, Rs4.7 million; secretary Anees Abbas Jafry, Rs2 million; senior executive Aurangzeb Sajid, Rs3.7 million; territory in charge (PSO) Mohammad Nasir Khan, Rs1.6 million; senior sales executive Mohsin Haque, Rs2.9 million; depot executive Mohammad Zaman, Rs1.9 million; senior airport officer Malik Shaukat Ali, Rs2.2 million; senior territory in charge Javed Asghar Tanoli, Rs1.9 million; secretary Shehnaz Wazir Ali, Rs1.4 million; senior terminal officer Nafees Ahmed Bhutto, Rs1.8 million; and, senior officer Irfan Qadir, Rs1.8 million.

According to sources in the PSO, one of the senior officials who benefited from the scheme had resigned before its launch. But after the initiative was launched he was promoted to the next grade and then allowed to avail of the benefits of the scheme.