Govt to reinstate sacked employees

ISLAMABAD â€" The federal cabinet here on Wednesday decided to reinstate all the sacked/removed employees/workers in the government departments/organizations during the period from November 1993 to November 1996 and sacked/removed during the period November 1996 to December 1998.  

“All those employees who were provided employment by PPP during 1993-96 and removed from service later, would be reinstated with seniority and back financial benefits�, said Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sherry Rehman while briefing the media on the decisions of federal cabinet that met here under the chair of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.

She said the sacked employees of Sui Southern Gas Company were also included in the package.

“The Prime Minister had constituted a special committee to assess the financial implications, oversee the decision and ensure its implementation. Mian Raza Rabbani, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Manzoor Wattoo, Naveed Qamar, Sherry Rehman, Rehmatullah Kakar, Shaukat Tarin and Justice (Retd) Abdul Razzak A Thahim are the members of the committee�, she stated.

She said that the cabinet had approved measures to provide relief in the interest rate for loan to spinning sector and R&D support to textile and clothing industry.  “The Government had provided mark-up rate subsidy @ 3% for one year (2007-08) to the spinning mills on outstanding running balances of principal amount of floating rates loans availed by the industry during 01.7.2003 to 30.06.2007 from commercial banks for financing import of spinning machinery, for which funds under State Bank’s Long Term Financing for Export Oriented Project (LTF-EOP) scheme have not been availedâ€�, she told the media.

She said that under the scheme, claims were to be filed on six-monthly basis, i.e. for the period July-December 2007 after  1st January 2008. Due to unavoidable circumstances a number of subsidy claims for the first six months could not be filed. Claims for the period January-June 2008 were to be filed after 1st July 2008. It has been indicated that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has enforced 30th June 2008 as the cut-off date for making payments under this scheme, whereas claims were to be filed only after 1st July 2008.  

“To resolve the above issue the State Bank of Pakistan shall be asked to condone the delay in filing claims for the first six months and also allow claims for the reimbursement of 3% interest to the textiles (Spinning) sector beneficiaries by extending the date beyond 30th June 2008. This proposal would involve an approximate expenditure of Rs.750 million.  In order to offset the interest rate hike and to facilitate the industry, the mark-up reimbursement facility has been extended till 30th June 2009 and the spinning sector will be allowed reimbursement @ 3% for which approx Rs.1,220 million will be requiredâ€�, she said.

She said that the cabinet had approved, in principle, starting negotiations between Pakistan and Bulgaria for an agreement in economic cooperation. “The agreement envisages establishment of a joint commission between the two countries for enhancing greater bilateral economic cooperation. The commission will provide a platform to promote cooperation between the two countries in the fields of commerce, industry, food and agriculture, higher education, science and technology and other fields of mutual interests�, she stated.