Muzaffarabad: (Parliament Times) The prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kahmir Raja Farooq Haider Khan while presiding a meeting of AKLAS Board of Governors here on Tuesday directed the concerned authorities to present a comprehensive future plan in order to put the department (AKLAS) back on its feet besides making it a profitable entity.
The AJK PM told the participants of the meeting that after reviewing the earlier decision regarding the grant of golden handshake to AKLAS employees, feasible suggestions be made and presented in the next BoG’s meeting.
Khan said that Wood Working unit at Kundal Shahi in Neelum Valley should be made functional on emergency basis urging the authorities to take necessary measures to achieve the much needed balance between income and expenses of the department. He said that AKLAS with its plentiful assets had remained most profitable entity but due to the negligence of former rulers the AKLAS was now at the verge of bankruptcy like that of steel mills.
The AKLAS’s accumulated losses and liabilities he said were even higher than its income. He said that the department was facing serious financial crunch as there were no funds available for the salary of its employees. He said that whatever timber was available to the department should be put on auction.
The prime minister who is also chairman of AKLAS was told on the occasion that the department at the moment possessed over 2.5 Lakh cubic feet timber that could be put on auction immediately. AKLAS officials said that the timber available to the department was sufficient enough to generate the much needed revenue. They said that Kudal Shahi Wood Working unit that would hopefully start functioning till 20th of May would help to overcome the financial problems.
