Bugti vows not to allow govt jobs to be sold in Balochistan

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has said he will not allow government jobs to be sold, making it clear that recruitment will be done on merit.

Addressing a press conference at the CM Secretariat here on Tuesday, he said reforms had been started for improvement in education and health sectors.

Results of tests and interviews were going to be announced in light of a Supreme Court judgment and the recruitment of teachers would be on a contract basis, Bugti said, adding that a committee of senior bureaucrats had been constituted to make the recruitment process of teachers transparent, which would ensure merit.

He said preparations were going on to present the next fiscal year’s budget on June 21 or 22. He alleged that Qesco had made the lives of the people of Balochistan miserable during the extreme heat in the province and he had written to the prime minister in this regard.

The CM congratulated the nation on Youm-e-Takbeer and said that after the nuclear tests in 1998, Pakistan emerged as an Islamic nuclear power in the world.

He said former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto continued the atomic programme despite all the foreign pressure and former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif allowed the nuclear tests despite all the world pressure and made Pakistan an invincible nuclear force.

Bugti further said the government would announce the results of the tests and interviews in the education department as per a decision of the Supreme Court, and there would be no compromise on merit and teachers would be recruited on a contract basis.

He said a committee comprising senior bureaucrats Ghulam Ali Baloch, Abdul Saboor Kakar, Asfand Baloch, Dostain Jamaldini, the law secretary and others had been constituted, and the chairman of Balochistan Public Service Commission would oversee the recruitment of teachers.

“We will see the performance of teachers and after examining the same they will be promoted. No jobs will be sold in Balochistan. All recruitments will be done through the Public Service Commission.”

The CM remarked that if we compromise on the recruitment of teachers, we will destroy the future of the young generation. He reiterated that the government will implement the recruitment of teachers keeping in mind transparency and merit.

He said efforts were being made to present the provincial budget on June 21 or 22, and the Eid holidays of the officers and employees of the finance and P&D departments had been cancelled for the preparation of the budget.

Bugti termed pensions as the most important issue in the budget, saying that 7,000 special SNEs had been removed and Rs3 billion saved. He said the government in future would work by following the procedure of scrutiny. He said the development budget had been reduced due to pensions; however, the government was working for presenting an improved budget.

The CM stated that the temperature in Balochistan had gone above 50 degrees Celsius, and in such a situation, Qesco was providing electricity for two to three hours a day, which was cruelty to the people of the province. He said he wrote a letter to the PM and this issue would be raised. He said line losses in Balochistan were less than 20 percent as compared to other provinces.

To a question, he said the health and education departments would run under a public-private partnership like in the rest of the world to provide better facilities to the people.

Replying to another question, he said merit and transparency reforms were being implemented in education, health and other sectors, and efforts were being made to stop the sale of jobs and give rights to the deserving.

Answering a question, Bugti said the government was working on the distribution of bardana and right now it had 800,000 tonnes of wheat stock in the province. He announced that middlemen would not be allowed to take advantage in the buying and selling of wheat and this benefit would be given to the farmers.

To a question, he said his government would make the Balochistan Assembly supreme and take all the stakeholders into confidence in the province as it wanted to work for the betterment of people to ensure solution to their problems. Provincial ministers Haji Ali Madad Jattak, Mir Zahoor Ahmad Buledi, Bakht Muhammad Kakar, assembly member Engineer Zamrak Khan Achakzai, Balochistan government spokesman Shahid Rind and others were also present.