Sixth year into the retirement, and the major part
of the life spent with WAPDA still haunts while you are waking up (and are in a
relaxing mode) or sleeping. Before I dwell into details of WAPDA nightmares,
rest assured that these were the scattered short phases during the currency of
work throughout the career, but these brief moments were responsible for
creating massive jolts to your mental prowess and physical fragility. Nevertheless,
having said that, I cannot be ungrateful (NA-SHUKRA) about the countless
benefits and career development opportunities that I enjoyed all along,
Alhamdulillah. Besides, I had the honor to have worked (as a subordinate
officer) with some of the best engineers cum mentors that were the source of
great learning.
Here are some of the hard, tough and weird experiences:
- Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Departmental Accounting Committee (DAC) Meetings are the real “Bestee (insulting)” occasions for the incumbent PDs and GMs. Most of the times they are answerable to issues and wrongdoings of their predecessors. The incumbents have to justify, in the shortest possible time, why they (their predecessors) were involved in the unlawful activities and hence, violated Authority Rules and Regulations. At the larger Forum of PAC, the charge-sheet is read, and most of the times, the entire PAC agrees with the charge-sheet. Unfortunately, this elite Forum hardly provides appropriate time window to the “accused” to come up with the satisfactory replies.
- At the DAC, the Audit Team wants the Ministry Team to recommend sending the Audit Para to PAC. The interesting part is that the same Audit Para has already been forwarded to PAC. The Heads of both Ministry Team and WAPDA Team direct the concerned PD/GM, often harshly, to justify the same through proper documentary proof and defend the same in the next PAC meeting, leaving the incumbent PD/GM clueless and helpless because whatever work of the Project was done in the past, it was carried out in accordance with the Authority’s approval.
- WAPDA Authority Meetings - At least on two occasions during the WAPDA
Authority Meetings, the Chairman WAPDA grilled me for 10-15 minutes (looked
like hours) for the things I was not defending or responsible for. For
instance, regarding approval of an Item Note on Khan Khwar HPP, the Chairman mistook
it as Keyal Khwar HPP and unleashed a barrage of “kind words”. No one from the
Authority Members and Advisors dared to intervene. Some Advisors enjoyed this “Bestee
program” thoroughly and smilingly.
- On the next such occasion, I was cautious, prepared and took along with me the German Consultant who saved me from the “larger bestee” when he endorsed my view after the initial bashing.
- Meetings with the Advisors – Some Advisors pretend to be “Aql-e-Kul”
meaning “they know anything and everything”. They treat you like a student
having their “Viva Voce” exam. They took every opportunity to undermine and
taunt you. They would keep talking, aimlessly, proving their worthiness, and eventually
say; how would you do it if I were not
around!
Every engineer, after induction, spends nearly 30
plus years with the Department. During all these years, one works, meets and
interacts with scores of colleagues, up and down who leave behind their mark on
your work-life. Mr. Ahmad Khan Bhatti, Shamshad Khan, and Hasnain Afzal from
WAPDA, and Mr. Nisar Ali Akhtar from NESPAK were truly gentlemen who helped me
a lot in developing my technical and managerial skills. On the other hand, some
people were terrible and acted weirdly that you hardly want to remember them.
Last three years of my work-life were tough and
challenging, and I kept longing for the day I was going to retire. The
retirement day is still the happiest day of my life. In spite of the above, the
long work-life with WAPDA remains unforgettable. Sometimes, I dream about the colleagues;
some smile at me, greet me, while others scare
the hell out of me.
