0
SUKKUR, March 12: Scores of education department employees staged a protest demonstration outside the Sukkur Press Club on Wednesday against the non-payment of salaries for the past seven months.
Abbas Shah, Imamuddin and Mazhar Ali were leading the protesters. They gathered at the press club and staged the protest demonstration while chanting slogans against the education department authorities.
The protesters told the newsmen that eight months ago, 643 naib qasids, security guards and other lower grade staffers had been appointed in Sukkur and Khairpur districts. However after the passage of seven months they get never paid. While the employees appointed along with them in Karachi and Hyderabad were getting salaries regularly.
They said their families were on the brink of starvation and despite many appeals to the education high-ups no heed was paid to their problems. They demanded immediate payment of their salaries and warned of strong protest movement if they were not paid.
When Sukkur Education EDO Abdul Ghaffar Mahar contacted he said the Sindh chief secretary should have sent a letter to the finance secretary after which the finance department would not find any difficulty in payment of salary of these 643 employees.
He said the matter had already been taken up at higher level and hoped that it would be resolved within a week.
He said that such complaints were not only in Sukkur and Khairpur districts but also in other districts of the province.
RAID: The Anti-Corruption police raided the office of Roads Department Ghotki and seized the record on Tuesday following allegations of misappropriation of millions of rupees in development work.
Circle Officer Himmath Ali Chandio along with Judicial Magistrate Ghotki Rajab Ali Shar raided the office of DO Roads Ghotki Madad Ali Arain and seized the record, while the officer was not present in his office.
Himmath Ali Chandio told journalists that the raid was conducted on complaints against DO Madad Ali Arain for issuing cheques of Rs90 million to contractors. Chandio also seized counterfoils of cheques.
He said the officer involved issued cheques during last two months for construction of roads but no work had been executed at the site and the amount misappropriated. He said despite rejecting 35 tenders by the provincial secretary, the DO Roads Ghotki released the amount of those tenders to contractors.
Himmath Ali Chandio said besides Madad Ali Arain, five SDOS including, Ali Murad Mahar, Jamal Din Mahar, Karim Mahar, Zakir Leghari and Nawaz Gabole were also allegedly involved in the scam. He said further investigation was in progress.
