Pakistan Railway Pensioner expires in queue outside bank

Pakistan Railway Pensioner expires in queue outside bank

In a disturbing news development out of Lahore, a Pakistan Railway pensioner by the name of Mahmood Khan, has been confirmed dead. The individual had been waiting in a queue line outside a bank, overnight, for the collection of a pension cheque. The incident was reported from the National Bank Branch of Mughalpura workshop on Wednesday, October 26.

The news comes as a shock to many people who have seen an escalation in dissatisfaction between the Railway authorities and the workers’ union. Khan had been standing in queue for a long time before he fell to the ground, unconscious. He was rushed to the local hospital but he could not be saved in time.

The Railway clearly failed to process pension funds to the retired employees before the 25^th October deadline. The promise to fulfil the payment cycle was made by the Pakistan Railway’s (P. R.) General Manager of Operations, Saeed Akhter. Reportedly, 1 billion rupees were received by the authority from the Federal Government to be disbursed amongst the employees and the pension seekers. The Railway body made its promise to process the proceeds by the 25^thof October but failed miserably.

As a result, many workers camped outside local banks in diligent wait for the funds to come through. P. R. also claimed that it would distribute next month’s salaries alongside the deficit payments, needed to be processed, before Eidul Azha. These claims however have eluded many P. R. workers as they have been proven false.

Many protests were held on Tuesday, citing the ineffective governance of the local body authority in the Railway Corporation. Protests were a fresh sign of contention after the workers’ union called on a strike against the P. R. a few days ago

The Railway spokesman has come out to say that the corporation has transferred its funds of 77.3 million rupees to 78 bank branches. He raised the opinion that the delay in imbursements could be attributed to the sudden announcement of Monday’s holiday. Banks were closed during the day, which caused a lapse in transfers. He was optimistic about the issue and claimed the matter would be resolved by Wednesday.

This recent death however explains an opposing view however.

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Posted by Zuhaib Gull on Oct 26 2011. Filed under Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry