The salaries and pensions of the Haripur Town Municipal Authority (TMA) employees that had been withheld for the last three months have been released.
Fakhrul Islam, the town municipal officer, said on Thursday that salaries of TMA employees across the province could not be released due to the closure of PLA accounts by the office of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accountant general for the past three months.
He said the situation had become so dire where people were facing starvation, with the situation made worse by spiraling inflation.
After the restoration of the accounts, the provincial government transferred the money to Haripur TMA Haripur.
It has since started disbursement, including pending salaries and pensions of staff including permanent, daily-wage earners, and pensioners.
Islam said that the TMA employees have welcomed resumption while urging the government to ensure there are no such delays.
He added that the TMA was struggling for funds and appealed to the provincial government to review their situation.
He said that the authority was struggling to pay utility bills, due to which the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) regularly cut off power to tube wells operated under TMA. He said it had developed into a major civic issue and did not reflect well on the authority.
Every citizen has the right to access to clean drinking water and that is our responsibility, Islam continued. “We can only apologise to the people for this,” he said while urging the provincial government to release funds.
Two killed in accident
Two men were killed while 11 others, including women and children, suffered injuries when a passenger vehicle fell into a ditch near Muslimabad on Thursday.
Police said that the accident occurred when the driver lost control of the vehicle due to speeding.
Locals and Rescue 1122 workers rescued the injured from the ditch and shifted the bodies and the injured to THQ Hospital Khanpur. Later, the seriously injured were shifted to the Haripur Trauma Centre, where the condition of the two injured was stated to be critical.
The deceased were identified as 35-year-old Muhammad Ashraf and 45-year-old Sajid Hussain Shah.
On the same day, the police arrested the accused who tortured and killed his wife over a domestic dispute.
According to the police, on September 29, a man allegedly tortured and killed his wife over a domestic dispute in the limits of Saddar police station.
A case was registered against the suspect under Section 316 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the deceased’s brother.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2023.
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