Charsadda footwear institute chief sacked for not accommodating ghost employees

PESHAWAR: The sole institute training shoemakers in the world-fame Peshawari chappal along the modern lines in Charsadda has started facing issues as the principal of the institute has been terminated for accommodating ghost employees from Karachi.

The Footwear Training Institute Charsadda (FTI) was established in 2003 by Trade Development Authority Pakistan (TDAP) to impart modern skills to the traditional shoemakers of Charsadda and Sardheri to strengthen the local industry of traditional Peshawari chappal.

The Exports Development Fund (EDF) provided about Rs14 million to support the establishment of the training institute with an objective to develop skills, enhance capacity of local manpower and supply valuable human resource to the leather footwear industry in the country in general and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular.

The EDF invests in export-oriented projects and trade initiatives undertaken by public and private sector stakeholders. These initiatives are mainly sponsored by the regional trade associations as each year EDF receive a number of grant proposals from chambers, traders, export associations and exporters seeking financial assistance for their projects and activities.

The FTI is part of the TDAP dispersal of economic activity across the country from which Charsadda also benefited.The institute is governed under the private partnership mechanism by a management committee comprising representatives of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), Chappal Makers Association, Trade Development Authority Pakistan (TDAP), National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NVTEC)

among others.

The institute has trained over 900 persons so far, including 240 females, through its six-month certificate course in designing, stitching and other related disciplines.However, the sources confided to The News that the institute over the last four months had been facing uncertain circumstances after the assistant manager, TDAP headquarters, Karachi South, on August 10 sent names of four employees for inclusion into the strength of the FTI.

The employees, whose inclusion in the salary books was sought from August 16 were Gada Hussain, designer, Aftab Ahmed, storekeeper, Aminul Haq, naib qasid and Muhammad Bachal, driver.

The TDAP through letter No, TDAP/RD .EDF/FTI/2018 on August 10 directed the FTI to make relevant updates in the account books for salary purposes of the employees.However, FTI principal, Zahir Shah, a retired civil servant who has also served as director general (DG), TDAP, resisted and did not comply with the orders to make entries of the employees in the

salary books.

This allegedly annoyed the TDAP high-ups in the headquarters in Karachi who terminated Zahir Shah’s services on a 24-hour notice. In the same termination letter the four employees were also “mockingly” terminated on 14-day notice.

Though the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regional TDAP director issued termination orders of the FTI principal on August 19, he submitted a number of reservations on the whole episode on October 23. He argued that it would lead to serious administrative issues for FTI because the management committee allowed the principal to continue his job.

The regional director in his letter said Zahir Shah had been selected as FTI principal after a comprehensive screening, short-listing and interviewing process, while the names of Gada Hussain, Aftab Ahmed, Aminul Haq and Muhammad Bachal were sent without an intimation of any such codal formalities.

His letter (copy available with The News) further said that no record in terms of the selection process of these employees was available with regional TDAP office. It noted that neither advertisement regarding the qualification, criteria and age of candidates was floated nor approval of the management committee sought before making four appointments. The letter said this would certainly lead to legal issues for the authority.

The director asked the TDAP headquarters to withdraw the decision of sacking the principal as all the decisions regarding the FTI, including recruitment, termination, financial and administrative matters are to be taken by the management committee.