Government wakes up to railway pension crisis after death of elderly man
Thursday, October 27th, 2011 1:32:24 by Ali Ahmed
Pensioners of the Pakistan Railways have been camped out in front of public banks for days but the government only woke up to the crisis after an elderly man passed away in Lahore. Mahmood Khan, a 70 year old former railway employee, died waiting in a queue
to get his pension token.
“There were four people between Khan and the window when he collapsed at around 9:15am. We took him to the nearby PR hospital in a rickshaw where doctors pronounced him dead,” said Qayyum who had spent the night with his former colleague.
Scores of elderly ex railway service men and women have been made to suffer in long queues waiting for their pensions as the Pakistan Railways continues to hop from one crisis to another. With half of the trains already grounded because of numerous issues,
the department simply ran out of money this month to pay wages or pensions of employees.
Therefore elderly people have been helplessly protesting for the government to release some funds, but to no avail.
“My family is on the verge of starvation. I have not been paid pension for four months. I will be forced to start begging if I don’t get pension today,” an 85-year-old man said.
It was only after the death of Mahmood Khan and subsequent drum beating on various TV channels that the GOP sprung into action and released some funds for Pakistan Railways.
Railways authorities have since assured people that pensions will be paid out before Eid and the ex-servicemen can collect their dues from the National Bank of Pakistan.
Railways Director (Public Relations) Abdul Hameed Razi has said that Rs363 million had been transferred to the pension account of the bank and bank authorities have been told to provide every assistance to the elderly.
The NBP management also woke up to the crisis after Mahmood Khan’s death and released a statement expressing resolve to help the pensioners in any way possible.
“The NBP has also made arrangements to provide shade and water for those who are waiting outside the branches. We may add that NBP disburses pension of all government organisations/departments as per their mandate and funds being available in their respective
accounts with the bank,” said the statement.
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