Villager waits 25 years for job

He gave the 3,000-sq-ft plot to the education dept in 1990 in return for employment

SUKKUR: A resident of Nangar Ali Umrani village, near Larkana, has spent 25 years asking the provincial education department to fulfil its promise of employment for him. According to the district education officer, however, his wait may finally come to an end soon.

Rahib Ali Umrani had given a 3,000-square-feet plot as a gift to the education department for the construction of a government primary school. In return, he demanded the post of a guard or peon — a demand he claims the department had promised to fulfil. To date, however, he has remained jobless.

Out of frustration, Umrani locked up the school in August 2014, declaring that he would not allow the education authorities to run the school until he or his son were given a post. In response, the education department registered a complaint against him with the police, after which the school was reopened. “I am a poor man but I had a piece of land that I donated to the education department so that they could construct a primary school,” he explained while talking to the media, adding that the department had promised to give him a job at the school. “I am too old for a government job now, so my son should be provided a job instead.” He claimed that hundreds of people had been given jobs in the department over the last 25 years but his case was ignored.

Larkana primary district education officer Anwar Khokhar asserted that he did not know what had happened in the past but he had sent the department a summary to provide the job. “Umrani was unwilling to transfer the property rights to the department earlier but he has now provided us with the necessary documents, and so we are trying our best to meet his demand,” claimed Khokhar. “He or his son will be given a job as soon as we receive approval from the competent authority.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2015.