KARACHI: At least 835 families of those policemen who have lost their lives are awaiting funds from the finance department of the Sindh government.
The Sindh government announced that compensation would be given to the heirs of policemen who have died but many family members and widows have been forced to return empty-handed despite frequent visits to the police. The finance department has to pay Rs320 million to the police department.
Between 2007 and 2009, 48 policemen sacrificed their lives while performing their duty, 787 died from illnesses and 46 policemen were injured in different encounters. Officials said that the police have forwarded these details to the finance department in the Sindh government but they have yet to receive the money as the financial year comes to an end.
The finance department was supposed to allocate Rs64.6 million for the 48 policemen who have been killed, Rs246.9 million for those policemen who died from illnesses and Rs4.3 million for the injured policemen. So far, the victim’s families are receiving salaries while the widows are receiving Rs2,000 as funds. One of the heirs told Express News said that they are leading miserable lives as they do not even have money to pay their children’s school fees.
The families complained that they have been waiting for months to receive the money and feel like they will end up waiting for years before they received the promised amount.
Published in the Express Tribune, May 18th, 2010.
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