LAHORE: Engineer Zahoor Sarwar (PhD) Member Governing Body Pakistan Engineering Council has exposed sleazy venture of engineers’ sale/purchase by PEC Mafia in a press conference held at Lahore press club on 1st August 2024. He explained that Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) is a statuary body formed by passing an act through parliament of Pakistan in 1976.
PEC main functions include, to regulate the complete engineering profession, act as a think tank for Government of Pakistan, give solution for engineering problems of the country including but not limited to electricity generation and distribution, gas, water supplies and all engineering construction projects’ monitoring and evaluation as per PEC Acts & Bylaws 1976.
The only known role of PEC for general public, is looking after engineering related education in Pakistan. Unfortunately, PEC has been hijacked by a Mafia whose actual priorities are to look after their business and own personal interests, he explained. He pointed out Policies which have been made to augment this business.
These policies have given birth to a new kind of grimy business of sale and purchase of engineers’ license. Any contractor, consultant or company which desires to do business with any Government entity related to engineering profession has to get itself registered with PEC. Annual fee of renewal of this registration is around 4 to 5 hundred thousand rupees, depending on the category.
More than one hundred thousand companies have been registered with PEC to date. Main aspect of this renewal as per acts and bylaws of PEC is that each company must hire specific number of engineers in order to get registration or annual renewal. This compulsion was incorporated by our forefathers to ensure growth of engineering profession and quality of engineering projects in Pakistan.
But now this mafia has twisted this aspect in their own favour. Few PEC officials and Governing Body members have become part of this group which instead of hiring engineers on monthly salary basis, simply buy the engineers’ license on annual basis. Current rate of civil engineers’ license is Rs one lac/annum and for electrical and poor mechanical engineers like me have got the rate of 25 thousand rupees per annum.
Just imagine, two thousand rupees per month is the worth of an engineer in Pakistan. A country where a labour gets two thousand rs daily, worth of an engineer who have studies 16 years in the education system, and his/her parents have spent Millions on their education gets this reward.
These engineers have spent 4 years in PEC accredited universities and their parents have spent a lot on them. Instead of given them proper jobs for their own and countries’ growth, this PEC mafia while getting support from inside have started this grubby business. Cases have been brought in front of FIA where even non engineers have been shown as engineers and companies were registered by PEC but this Mafia is so strong that those cases have been hidden from public and are still without any final verdict and decisions.
PEC management is not only in knowledge of these activities but they have made new policies to support this Sale Purchase business of engineers. In one of the inhuman policy which has been implemented 4 years ago and is still in practice, engineer once getting attached with a firm (by selling his license) cannot get deregistered from that firm for whole one year and he/she cannot join any new job for this complete year. This policy is against BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS.
Even in the era of slaves it was allowed to a slave that once a new owner buys them they were allowed to go with the new master. BUT not in Pakistan, engineers are not allowed to get deregistered for complete one years from PEC registered company.
I met with one of these Mafia heads and requested him that you take votes from engineers even then you support this business and his reply was “we are card buyers once we can buy an engineers’ license in 25 thousand per annum why to hire them on monthly salary of 25 to 30 thousand per month?
I met the BIG BOSS of this mafia and placed the same question to his highness, as he also is main contestant of PEC engineers’ elections and his reply was “my company got a very small share of the business I cannot afford monthly salary of engineers”.
I also proposed that instead of buying cards on annual basis why don’t you get the policy where you hire engineers on project basis with monthly salary, this can be a win win situation for both, but all my efforts were fruitless.
He made an appeal to the Government officials to intervene and stop this sale purchase business forthwith. His second appeal was to engineers, to please stop selling their respect and license to this mafia only then they will be forced to hire engineers on monthly basis and more jobs will be created for the engineering profession.