Pakistan Steel Mills sacked 4,500 workers
The state owned Pakistan Steel Mills is not functional since 2015
The Pakistan
Steel Mills (PSM) sacked 4,544 workers, including the Divisional and Assistant
Managers. The state owned Steel Mills in Karachi has been shut down since 2015.
The
management confirmed that officials belonging to category 2, 3, and 4 pay
groups have been dismissed from their jobs. The spokesperson also notified that
dismissal letters have been sent to sacked employees by post.
On the other
hand, PSM Stakeholders Group Convener Mamriz Khan lamented that the state has
become indifferent to the employees of one of the largest public sectors of
Pakistan. "There are reports that the department head was called today so
that employees can be dismissed," he said, lamenting that employees are
forced to protest during the on-going coronavirus pandemic.
Regretting
that the case against the appointment of Steel Mills Chief Executive is not
being heard, the PSM official said that the current plan to rehabilitate the
Pakistan Steel Mills will cause further damage.
Earlier this
month, Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar said that the
government had decided to privatise the PSM as it had become a burden on the national
exchequer.
He said that
at one stage, the PSM had 30,000 employees out of which many employees had
retired and now an estimated 9,000 employees were working for the mill. He said
the PSM was closed for the last five years and previous governments could not
devise any plan for it.
The minister
said that the government had to spend Rs 55 billion to pay salaries to employees
of a closed mill. He said when the PTI government came into power; the Pakistan
Steel Mills was facing a loss of Rs 176 billion and its interest was also
increasing with each passing day.
The PTI leaders
promised to rehabilitate the Steel Mills before coming to power but now want to
privatise it. These sackings are part of privatisation process.
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