PIA executives 'getting fabulous salary packages'

[Abbas Ali]

Treasury agrees to allow debate on national flag carrier in Senate

By Asim Yasin

ISLAMABAD: The issue of hefty salary packages of the top executives of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) echoed in the Senate on Tuesday and the government showed willingness to hold a debate on the affairs of the national flag carrier in the Upper House of parliament on Thursday.

Opposition members had moved an adjournment motion in the Senate on the termination of 300 employees in lower grades of the PIA on the excuse of a financial crunch of the corporation as well as on the appointment of consultants to executive posts at hefty salary packages.

The Senate was stunned when the salary packages of the top executives of the PIA were revealed. The package of each top official runs into hundreds of thousands of rupees per month, while two consultants are being paid at the rate of Rs5,000 per hour.

This led even acting chairman Senate Jan Muhammad Jamali to say, “All of us should get employment in PIA rather than performing as senators.”

The opposition said that on the one hand the PIA was sacking 150 employees in lower grades on the pretext of financial losses, and on the other it was appointing top executives at fabulous salary packages.

The government did not contradict the opposition claims; rather, it showed willingness to hold a two-hour debate on the issue, although it opposed the motion on technical grounds.

The opposition expressed their willingness to accept the offer of the government to hold a debate on the affairs of the PIA.

Surprisingly, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan Khan Niazi revealed that PIA Chairman Tariq Karmani had got three years’ salary in advance. He also revealed that an elevator worth Rs 2.6 million was being installed especially for the office of the PIA chairman and that a sum of Rs 290,0000 was spent on the pasting of stickers onto the tails of planes.

Moving the motion, opposition leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani said the PIA was harassing its employees through different actions while reducing the wages of lower grade employees and enhancing their working hours.

He said when the adjournment motion was submitted, the total number of employees of the PIA who were going to be sacked was 150, but now another 150 employees were being shown the door. “PIA is being turned into Calcutta black hole for its employees,” he remarked.

Giving details of the salary packages of top executives of the PIA, Raza Rabbani said Aleem Khan, chief financial officer, was getting Rs 850,000 per month, Director Commercial Zafar Usmani Rs 575,000 per month, General manager Human Resource Uzma Bashir Rs 300,000 per month, Director Information Technology Nadeem Akram Rs 500,000 per month, Flight Operation Consultant Philip Morris $10,000 per month, Human Resource Consultant Rukhsana Asghar Rs 5,000 per hour, Flight Consultant Silva Rs 5,000 per hour, Imran Maqsood Rs 450,000 per month and General Manager Research Asim Rs 222,000 per month.

However, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan Khan Niazi contradicted the opposition’s claim that the contractual employees were sacked, saying that their contract had expired and it was not renewed by the PIA management.

Source: The News