—HEC Fails To Provide Required Funds

Kehkashan Tabbasum

ISLAMABAD, APR 13 /DNA/ – The staff and pensioners of the National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research are not being paid house ceiling for the last over five years owing to non-release of required funds by the Higher Education Commission.

The NIHCR has been regularly requesting the HEC authorities for providing required funds to clear pending dues of house rent ceiling of its staff and pensioners but to no avail, disclosed highly placed sources in the NIHCR administrative management.

The sources disclosed that the matters of provision of funds as well as enhancing annual budget have time and again discussed in the NIHCR Board of Governors and Finance and Planning Committee meetings; every time vetoed by the diehard HEC representatives.

Hence, staff and pensioners living in rented houses in twin cities have not been paid house rent ceiling since 2021 and there seems no solution to the issue as the HEC is adamant to maintain the status quo at one pretext to another.

On the other hand, the amount needed to clear the backlog of the hiring allowance has been multiplying by every passing month. No doubt, the NIHCR staff and pensioners have been suffering due to the HEC bureaucratic red tape.

“All employees serving under the federal government are entitled to hire private houses as per defined rates. This facility is available to all government servants in different departments but the NIHCR staff and pensioners are facing a different dilemma at the hands of the HEC authorities,” remarked the sources.

The sources added that billions of rupees are misused every year on fake repair of vehicles, consumption of petrol, purchase of furniture and stationery but there is always no budget to pay hiring allowance to the NIHCR poor staff and pensioners. Employees working in other government offices, like the HEC, never faced any difficulty in availing themselves of the opportunity, the sources said.

Houses owners’ are threatening the NIHCR staff and pensioners of eviction if rent is not paid timely. In such a situation, the HEC authorities should come forward to address the issue of backlog of unpaid house rent ceiling, which accrued during over five years period, and release the required funds to clear the backlog.

“The NIHCR staff and pensioners have been deprived of their due rights and fair demands but despite their efforts, they are unheard and are facing continued struggle. What performance can the government expect from a research institution staff, who is always a victim of such perils? The HEC should take notice of this and adopt a strategy for clearing the rental ceiling on time for all and sundry,” added the sources.

The sources demanded the HEC to release a supplementary grant to pay the rental ceiling to the NIHCR staff and pensioner.=DNA