Project Management Unit gets control of SWM

LAHORE The Punjab government has given the control of Solid Waste Management (SWM) to the Project Management Unit (PMU) of Turkey in order to improve efficiency and working of the department. Sources in the SWM said that the governments decision to privatise the department would render hundreds of SWM employees jobless, as the PMU administration started fresh interviews for recruitment on Monday. They said that the existing staff with the SWM would be subjected to scrutiny and interview before their recruitment into the PMU. With Wasim Ajmal as its first Managing Director, the newly-constituted recruitment committee of PMU interviewed a number of officials working on key posts in SWM on Monday for their fresh recruitment, the sources added. The interviews have worried the regular employees of SWM because earlier they were considered government employees, but now they would have to work with a private firm. They are also uncertain about their future, as most of them have been working as permanent employee with the SWM from the last 20 years. They have expressed their apprehensions over the privatisation of the department and protested against this decision. An SWM official and office-bearer of employees union on the condition of anonymity said that the department was working smoothly and performance of the officials was satisfactory too, so privatisation of the department was an unwise decision on part of the government. He said that the PMU administration was offering golden handshake to most of the regular employees of SWM, which they denied. They want to continue with their job, he said and added, the officials demanded of the PMU to ensure job security and other facilities to them as per the CDG bylaws. Though the PMU promised to give more incentives to the employees, besides offering handsome salary, yet a large number of regular as well as work-charged employees feared of job insecurity, he added. He alleged that the PMU was humiliating the personnel by interviewing them particularly those who were senior or were expert of their field. Neither the government nor the PMU administration so far have spoken of the employees apprehensions and job security. Terminations will be unfair as hundreds of families will be left to starve, he maintained. The official warned that in case of termination of employees, protest demonstrations would be staged.