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Gurdwara sewadars are technical
people or clerical?
A few dollar question
WSN Network
LAHORE: Twelve Sikh sewadars have written a
letter to Pakistan's Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) chairman
General Zulfiqar Ali Khan asking a pay scale upgrade according to
the announcement the state minister for finance had made in his
budget speech for 2007-08 in June.
Sewadars are ETPB employees at basic pay scale. They are assigned
the duty as granthi and rumala sahib at the gurdwaras. Senior
sewadars work at higher basic scale.
ETPB secretary Chaudhry Riaz Ahmad confirmed that the department had
received a letter by the sewadars. He said the ETPB chairman had
referred the letter to him. He said the ETPB had promoted the
employees who met the requirements of the state minister’s
announcement.
He said the ETPB had written to the Finance Ministry and Religious
Affairs Ministry to ask whether the sewadars had to be promoted. The
issue is whether the sewadars were technical personnel or clerical.
He said that if the sewadars were promoted, other technical
personnel like rent collectors, patwaris and drivers would also have
to be promoted because they also worked on the same pay scale.
Sewadars requesting anonymity alleged that the ETPB was deliberately
keeping their case pending.
31 October, 2007
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