Losing life in the waiting queue
Announcing Rs.5 lakh only when someone loss his precious life and no one has ever bothered before for making the smooth flow of salaries of the ex-pensioner of Pakistan Rail way.
The pensioners were waiting outside the bank for the payment since October 25th, when a 68 years old Railways (PR) pensioner Mehmood Khan lost his life on the very next day while waiting outside the National bank of Pakistan of Mughal Pura bank branch in Lahore overnight for the payment.
Earlier, the railways had assured all the union employees that salaries and pensions would be paid by October 25 and the unions called off the strike after the assurance. But the railway authority failed to pay the pensions up till now.
PR GM Saeed Akhtar had also said while talking to media that PR will be issued a fund of Rs 25 billion for the payment of salaries by the 25th of each month by the Finance Ministry. All employees will be paid their salaries by the first of every month. The railways have no issue with the provision of salaries and pensions but the responsibility lies on the National Bank of Pakistan who is delaying in giving the salaries to the pensioners. There is only one counter for receiving money from. The administration is supposed to make more than one counters intended for the employees pro their comfort and ease to them. According to GM Railways, an agreement has now been reached between PR and National Bank which will set up five separate counters in bank branches for the payment of salaries and pensions. This decision was taken during a meeting between the Railways and Finance Ministries.
“We will also take this issue of the Railway pensioner which would also be taken up in the parliament and in the protest of the October 28. The Pakistan Railway should be protected from the vanishing and the finance ministry should provide funds to the railway,” MNA Khawaja Saad Rafique of PML (N) said.