By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD:A select group of top-salaried political appointees in the country'spublic sector is all set to get a hefty raise of up to Rs 110,000 permonth.
Already drawing a monthly salary that is far more thanthat of even the top constitutional office-holders of the country "” president, prime minister, chief justice of Pakistan, Senate chairman and the National Assembly speaker "” such politicalappointees enjoying MP-scale, are expected to get up to Rs 349,000 permonth. This salary package does not include some additional benefitsthat also cost the government tens of thousands of rupees every month.
Theraise, being allowed to those appointed in the MP scales, includingeven the ordinary retired bureaucrats and ex-servicemen, is almostdouble the salary of the severing generals and federal secretaries.
AFinance Ministry source commented that the move is to serve well the"white elephants" with the hard-earned money of the taxpayers. Sourcestold The News that the Finance Ministry has formally proposed the heftyraise in the salaries of the contract appointees, enjoying MP-scales "”MP-I, MP-II and MP-III.
Finance Ministry's documents reveal thatthe minimum MP-I pay package is being raised from the existing Rs186,000 per month to the recommended Rs 294,000. Similarly the maximumMP-I pay package presently allowed up to Rs 279,000 per month is beingraised to Rs 349,000 per month.
The details of the proposal incase of MP-I show that minimum (min) and maximum (max) pay scale arebeing fixed at Rs 150,000 per month and Rs 190,000, respectively. Thehouse rent will be Rs 70,000 both for min and max cases. In case ofutilities allowance those offered min MP-I scale would get Rs 15,000per month while those appointed in max MP-I scale would get Rs 19,000per month.
Upon the total of the recommended pay scale, houserent and utilities allowance, the Finance Ministry also graciouslyproposed Rs 59,000 and Rs 70,000 per month contract premium taking thetotal to Rs 294,000 in case of those allowed min MP-I and Rs 349,000per month in case of those allowed max MP-I.
The MP-II scale isbeing raised to min Rs 173,000 and max Rs 214,000 per month. Therecommended MP-II salary is almost double the existing pay structure.Details show that in case of MP-II the existing min and max pay scalesare Rs 80,000 per month and Rs 110,000 per month, respectively. Thehouse rent is Rs 50,000 in both the cases whereas the utility allowanceis Rs 8,000 and 11,000 for min MP-II and max MP-II scales,respectively. Over and above the pay, the house rent and the utilityallowance, the MP-II min and max scales are recommended to be giveadditional Rs 35,000 and Rs 43,000 per month, respectively, as contractpremium taking the total to Rs 173,000 in case of min MP-II and Rs214,000 in case of max MP-II.
The political appointees enjoyingthe MP-III scales should not lose heart as a kind Finance Ministry hasrecommended for raising their pay package to Rs 111,000 per month andRs 139,000 per month in case of those offered min and max MP-IIIscales, respectively.
According to details, the MP-III pay scaleis being raised to min Rs 50,000 per month and max Rs 70,000. The houserent in both the cases is being fixed at Rs 35,000 per month, whereasthe utilities allowance is being increased to Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 formin MP-III and max MP-III respectively.
Over and above theMP-III pay scale, house rent and utilities allowance, those offered minMP-III will be offered additional Rs 21,000 per month while thoseappointed in max MP-III will get additional Rs 27,000 per month. Theaccumulated total makes the package for min MP-III to Rs 111,000 andfor max MP-III to Rs 139,000.
In addition to the under reviewpay package, those enjoying MP scales are also provided achauffer-driven staff car, which in case of MP-I should be at least1600cc, in case of MP-II 1300cc and in case of MP-III 1000cc. The carcould be used both for official and private use while the maintenanceis government's responsibility. Up to 340-litre petrol per month isalso allowed to this scale.
Those appointed in these scales arealso allowed TA/DA on domestic as well as foreign official tours asadmissible to federal secretaries, additional secretaries and jointsecretaries. Reimbursement of medical and hospitalisation charge forself, spouse and children for treatment at the government or thegovernment-recognised institution in Pakistan is also allowed to themwhereas such appointees are also permitted to earn leave on full pay atthree days per month for the period of duty. These employees are alsoentitled to earn one month's pay as gratuity for each completed year ofservice.
Besides these benefits the respective organisationsupon whom such (what is called in most cases) "white elephants" arebestowed, offer innumerable additional services and benefits "” thoughinformally, including fleet of cars, house servants, gardeners, guardsetc.
The MP scale, which was initially introduced to attractprofessionals of international repute from the private sector, is nowoffered to every Tom, Dick and Harry. There are cases where technicalpositions, carrying MP-scales- have been offered to non-technicalpersons from private sector. The Defence Ministry's recent cries incase of the incumbent chairman of the troubled PIA and the CivilAviation Authority director-general are the ace examples of how thesquare pegs are fixed in round holes here.
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