ISLAMABAD, July 30: The operation of the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) has been closed down, rendering its 80,000 employees in 117 districts jobless.

The decision was taken at a recent meeting of the NCHD’s Board of Governors which includes special adviser to the PM on social welfare Begum Shahnaz Wazir Ali, former privatisation minister Dr Hafeez Sheikh and the commission’s chairman Dr Naseem Ashraf.A source at the NCHD told Dawn that the meeting reviewed financial and legal liabilities of the organisation and availability of funds and decided to wind up its operation and lay off the 80,000 employees with effect from August 1 because of serious funding problems.

A national conference of NCHD directors and district general managers from 117 districts was held on Tuesday night to discuss the board’s decision.

The conference, presided over by Dr Ashraf, and the NCHD management had endorsed the board’s decision.

The source said it was a surprising move because the NCHD had won Unesco’s International Literacy award in 2006. It managed enrolment of over 8.2 million school children and established 21,639 community-based feeder schools.

The NCHD set up 121,187 adult literacy centres and succeeded in making 2.68 million adults literate.

Under its ORS (Nimkol) project, 13.7 million women in 80 districts were trained to prepare ORS in homes to reduce child mortality.