PSM provided Rs 58 billion in bailout packages: SC told.

ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan has been disbursing Rs58bn to the Pakistan Steel Mills since 2008-2009 in the form of five bailout packages, the Supreme Court of Pakistan was informed by the Centre on Tuesday.

The federation, through the Ministry of Industries and Production, filed a report with the apex court on the PSM. The report said the PSM had stopped its commercial operations in June 2015 without formulating any human resource plan for its 14,753 employees.

It said the number of employees came down to 8,884 in 2019 of which 2,233 were officers and 6,651 were workers. The government pays Rs355 million for monthly net salary to the PSM employees excluding the component of leave encashment, provident fund and gratuity.

It further revealed that the government had so far released a total of Rs34.01 billion as net salary for the employees. Moreover, the federal government has also paid Rs1.266 billion to the families of deceased employees on compassionate grounds.

The court was further informed that the federal government had constituted an expert group in 2018 to invite professional recommendations for the revival of the PSM.

The group primarily recommended that the government should establish a public-private partnership to raise the necessary capital investment and obtain technical expertise for the successful revival and expansion of the mills.

It was also recommended that the government should appoint a...