Ombudsman helps plaintiffs get Rs52.86m

Zaiwer-e-Taleem stipends released to daughters of five Bhakkar residents

LAHORE:

The office of Punjab ombudsman has intervened to provide a cumulative legal relief worth Rs52.86 million to plaintiffs of different districts seeking redress of their complaints related to provincial government departments.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, a spokesman said that the long-awaited educational stipends of the Zaiwer-e-Taleem Programme, valued at Rs129,000, had been released to the daughters of five Bhakar residents after the involvement of the ombudsman's office.

In response to two separate applications of Muhammad Tayyab Azeem Tariq of Lahore, the Health Department had released Rs9.7 million and Rs4.4 million and confirmed to pay Rs1.1 million and Rs240,750 in the next quarter budget after the intervention of ombudsman's office, he added.

The spokesman said that the retired employee of the Municipal Corporation of Sheikhupura, Muhammad Mansha, had been paid employment dues worth Rs2.3 million and the involvement of the ombudsman's office resulted in the payment of over Rs3 million to legal heirs of Janu Bibi from Mandi Bahauddin who died during the processing of her application.

Apart from payment of dues, the Punjab Employees Social Security Institutions (PESSI) had also employed her son, the spokesman noted.

The spokesman asserted that the involvement of the ombudsman's office had resulted in the payment of employment dues of Rs3.2 million to the widow of a primary schoolteacher by the Education Department.

The agriculture director (E&M) released Rs15.3 million to Khushab's Malik Allah Daad Khan and other pensioners who had been awaiting their pension amounts for the last three years.

The spokesman said that the district health authority of Gujrat had given Rs2.5 million to Samia Bibi as financial aid, the district education authority of Gujranwala had paid Rs3.3 million to the widow of Bashir Ahmed and the buildings department of Faisalabad had released security dues valuing Rs3.7 million to complainant Muhammad Jameel.

As a result of the effective pursuance of the complaint of an employee from Sialkot, 425 employees of the district health authority were being paid over Rs1 million every month.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2022.