KARACHI: Despite clear directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, 248 servants of Pakistan Customs including sepoys, hawaldars, record suppliers, lab attendants and drivers are waiting for their due promotions from BPS 3 to BPS 5 and BPS 5 to BPS 7 for last three years.
Despite serving for 20 to 41 years, the junior staffers in the Collectorates of MCC Appraisement-West, MCC Appraisement-East and MCC Port Qasim have been deprived of their due promotion. In this regard, General Secretary of Pakistan Customs Employees Association, Syed Aftab Hussain Shah Hamdani informed Customs Today that despite clear directives issued by the Revenue Division-FBR in the year 2011, 2012 and 2013 in order to upgradation/promotion of junior staffers, the authorities concerned of the Collectorates did not implement the said orders in its true spirit.
Hamdani further told this scribe that the promotions of junior customs officials including sepoys and hawaldars have not been implemented in the Collectorates of Karachi, while the junior customs officials got promotions in all other Collectorates of the country. He further revealed that the record suppliers, lab attendants and drivers possessed LLB and BSc degrees; still, they were waiting for their promotions for the last three years and many of them have retired in the same grades which they got at the time of recruitment. He appealed to the authorities concerned to take immediate action in this regard to boost morale of the junior customs staffers.
Meanwhile, General Secretary of Karachi Customs Employees Association, Syed Aftab Hussain Shah Hamdani has put forward a 12-point Charter of Demands to the high-ups of Customs and FBR.
The charter consists of 12 demands for betterment and facilitation of the junior Customs officials including sepoys, clerks, laboratory assistants, drivers and others. The demands included up-gradation of pay scale of drivers from BPS 5 to BPS 7 and promotion of senior drivers from BPS 7 to BPS 9; promotion of the educated Class-four employees, experienced clerks, sepoys and RS Laboratory attendants to the post of Lower Divisional Clerk (LDC); allowing the educated and experienced clerks, hawaldars and sepoys to participate in the departmental exams of PO-EO; redressing the issues of getting service books and payroll slips after the retirement of the employees by SR Cell Section; ensuring transparent distribution of reward money on the time of annual budget and paying reward money equal to 2-times of the basic salary of each employee; increasing the house-hiring fund of the lower grade employees deployed at MCC Appraisement-East, West, MCC Port Qasim, MCC PaCCs and MCC Exports; increase in allocated medical funds for the families of in-service, retired and deceased employees; making efforts to rectify the record of GP Fund Box Number in AGPR record; restore increment and washing allowance of the sepoys’ uniform; bring back the Customs Welfare Shop in Customs House again and giving it the status of utility store and announcing son-quota for the retired employees of Pakistan Customs in the department.
