SUKKUR, Feb 11: Hundreds of women teachers of different girls education institutions of Sukkur city are experiencing difficulties due to non-payment of their salaries for the month of January-2008.

Talking to journalists, these teachers said that officials of the education department deliberately delay disbursements of salaries. They said that their pay bills were prepared well in time by their schools and submitted to the district accounts office for necessary verification and onward transfer to a bank for disbursement of salaries.

They said that this was not the first time but it was routine when they go to the bank to collect the monthly salaries, the bank authorities always complain of non-receipt pay bills from the District Accounts Office Sukkur.

They said that although the District Accounts Office has since been computerised but they were deprived of their salary. They said that they had approached the Assistant District Education Officer Sukkur, Ghulam Abbas Mako, but despite his assurance, they were denied their salary.

When this correspondent contacted the Executive DistrictOfficer Education Sukkur, Abdul Ghaffar Mahar, he confirmed the delay of payment of salary to theteachers and maintained that due to some technical problem in the computers of District Accounts Office the pay bills of teachers could not be finalised. He assured that their salary would be finalised within two days and bills would be sent to concerned department for payment.

Sources said that salary of over 50 male and female teachers were stopped by the education department due to their late attendance and absence from duty and, in some cases, due to disciplinary action initiated against those teachers.