LARKANA:Retired gazetted and non-gazetted government servants continue to suffer for no fault of theirs at all to get their life savings. Even Leave Preparatory to Retirement (LPR) amount has been denied to them for want of required funds not to speak of commutation, gratuity and other benefits.
Recently the Sindh Government released Rs110 million whereas the same amount is still needed to meet all the requirements and clear the backlog of the pending cases which have accumulated since last six months. Worst affected is the staff working at District Accounts Officer (DAO), Larkana, who are daily cursed and facing ravages of the needy government employees who retired on attaining the age of superannuation to pass their rest of life while praying at homes. It was learnt here on Wednesday when this scribe again visited the DAO office on receipt of complaints that payments are not made despite release of funds.
District Accounts Officer and Assistant District Accounts Officer said that they are regularly pressurized by the retired government servants for payment of their lifelong savings but they are unable to pay them because of lack of proper funds. They said about Rs110 million were recently released against the requirement of 250 million after the media report. They said that aged employees who have no savings other than retirement benefits are sometimes abusing and cursing us but they keep on solacing them that they will receive their funds soon.
Meanwhile, The Accountant General Sindh through a letter addressed to all the DAOs and Treasury Officers of Sindh has instructed them to fix 14th June as the cutoff date for submission of fresh bills, sanctions and 21st June has been fixed for endorsement of cheques for financial closing of the year 2020-21 and after 21st June no cheque will be endorsed. The letter further instructed that no arrear payments of salary bills of previous financial years will be entertained before 30th June, 2021. The letter further added that payment of commutation / Gratuity will not be paid till 30th June 2021, only regular pension (self/family) will be paid through regular payroll.
These fresh instructions have broken the back of the poverty-stricken low-paid government servants who had hoped that their rest of life will pass comfortably after getting retirement benefits but they were terribly mistaken and unaware of the fact that their government will release their funds in instalments and that too conditionally.
Pensioners Rasul Bux, Altaf Hussain, Muhammad Ibrahim and others said that they are being step-motherly treated by the rulers which is unjust. They said they have already been denied group insurance payment despite the Supreme Court order and now they are roaming like beggars to get their life savings. They urged the Sindh Chief Minister and Chief Justice, Sindh High Court to intervene and take notice of the issues, resolve them on priority basis which is their basic right and save them from facing hunger.