Bloated entities

This refers to the letter ‘Fixing SOEs’ (June 10, 2020) by Abbas R Siddiqui. With respect to the government’s decision to lay off the employees of Pakistan Steel Mills, the writer observes “Such measures indicate a sign of the government’s willingness to finally tackle this loss-making behemoth.” Wrong; the PTI government has been unwilling to consider layoffs due to political expediency. It was the Supreme Court that took notice of payments to PSM employees out of taxpayers’ money, and questioned why the employees had been kept on the roll when the mill was closed.

Since the word ‘government’ has no meaning in this country, a similar intervention of the Supreme Court may be necessary to restructure other bleeding SOEs that are eating into the taxpayers’ money and are a burden on the national economy. In fact, the bloated and top-heavy government structure itself needs to be revamped into a lean, efficient, and disciplined administration that can deliver. Unfortunately, Advisor to the Prime Minister Dr Ishrat Hussain’s report on institutional reforms has been put in the cold storage owing to political compulsions. The article ‘A rudderless ship with no real captain’ (June 10, 2020) by Mansoor Ahmad truly sums up the predicament of this nation when it is amid a pandemic and economic crisis that has no parallel.

Arif Majeed

Karachi