MUZAFFARABAD: Apparently succumbing to the pressure from various quarters to minimise unnecessary expenditures, the Peoples Party government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Friday sacked 33 discretionary employees of a semi-government institution.

According to a notification, seven coordinators, three directors coordination and 23 district coordinating officers were relieved from Jammu Kashmir Cell (JKC) with the approval of its chairman/Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed.

The JKC, raised in mid 80s by the name of Kashmir Liberation Cell, was mandated to highlight Kashmir freedom movement at national and international level.

The institution, which meets its expenditures from `Kashmir Cess`, levied on all salaries drawn and payments (of contracts) made from the AJK exchequer besides on sale of properties, was turned into a hub of backdoor inductions of favourites by successive governments.

In 2012, the present government appointed around 72 ruling party workers as `advisers, coordinators, coordination directors and district coordinating officers` in JKC against lump sum `honoraria` ranging from Rs20,000 and Rs70,000 per month.

Some of them were however sent packing in the recent past, scaling down the figure to 55. Friday`s dismissals had further reduced the number of discretionary employees to 22.

A source in JKC told Dawn that with these dismissals, the institution would save around Rs8.6 million per annum.

However, still it would have to bear Rs12 million per annum on the honorariums of remaining discretionary employees, he added.