Murad asks Centre for debt collection pause

Shah also directs finance department to begin disbursing pensions to retired govt employees from March 25

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah urged the federal government on Monday to stop the collection of debt servicing from the provincial government's resources until the coronavirus pandemic was dealt with.

On the CM's instructions, the Sindh finance department has written a letter to the federal finance secretary to halt the debt servicing deductions in view of the shortfall in the current crisis.

The Centre collects around Rs3 billion as debt servicing charges from the Sindh government every month. However, the Sindh government said that there was a serious anticipated shortfall in revenues in the near future due to the coronavirus outbreak. As a result, it asked that the collections be made when matters return to normal.



Disbursing pensions

The same day, Shah directed the finance department to begin disbursing pensions to retired government employees from March 25. Pointing out that the elderly were more vulnerable to the coronavirus, he said that they should not be made to gather at banks in crowds. He also urged the retired employees to start drawing their pensions from the earlier date and to take proper care and precautions against the virus.

Shah further made the decision to take necessary measures to control the expenditures of the Sindh government in the face of the global pandemic.

As a result, he decided that apart from regular salaries and pensions, all payments such as commutation, gratuities and encashment of leave preparatory to retirement (LPR) would stand withheld.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2020.