PR pensioners protest against non-payment

Over 130,000 Pakistan Railways ex-employees awaiting monies

RAWALPINDI:

Like other parts of the country, thousands of retired employees of the Pakistan Railways in the Rawalpindi division have not been paid their payment for months.

The retired railway employees have announced to stage protest rallies outside the Rawalpindi railway offices and headquarters on Thursday against the non-payment of their salaries.

Retired employees of the Pakistan Railways have been facing severe difficulties due to the non-payment of pensions.

The pensioners said that they have become a shuttlecock between the Railways Accounts Department and banks.

They said that when they visit the banks, they are told that their pensions have not been transferred by the Pakistan Railways and when they visit the Railways Accounts Department, they are given a new excuse.

Read: 150,000 railway pensioners still await payment

Thousands of elderly pensioners, including widows, are being humiliated outside railway offices and banks. Elderly and physically-challenged pensioners said that they go to banks and railway offices every morning but return home empty-handed due to non-payment of monthly pensions.

The pensioners and widows said that they have not been able to make both ends meet owing to the non-payment of salaries.

The pensioners have announced to stage a protest rally outside railway headquarters from March 24. Meanwhile, railway organisations have also announced to hold sit-ins and protest rallies against the non-payment of salaries to pensioners and employees.

According to leaders of Railway Workers Union (RWU) Junaid Awan, Mubarak Hussain and Tahir Bhatti, they Pakistan Railways has been suffering from a severe financial crisis. They said that the pensioners have been compelled to meet their expenditures through borrowing.

The union leaders said that they can no longer remain silent on the issue and will hold protest rallies. They lamented that the railway minister was busy in politics and no one was there to resolve the issue of pensioners and the employees.

Railway officers go into hiding as soon as the pensioners show up seeking salaries, they said, adding that pensioners have been showing up at banks and railway offices for the past 23 days. They have appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Railway Minister Azam Swati, Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen and the Pakistan Railways chairman to take notice of the issue and issue directives for the disbursement of pension ahead of the onset of the month of Ramazan.

Elderly pensioners Muhammad Azeem, Shaukatullah and Fayyaz Khan warned that if the pension was not paid on March 24, they would hold a sit-in in front of the office of the Divisional Superintendent of Railways and on railway tracks across Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2022.