CHINIOT: As many 183 surveyors in the district, appointed in October 2025 for the Punjab Socio-Economic Registry (PSER), have yet to be paid four months after the completion of the survey, Dawn has learnt.

As per details, the Punjab government hired the services of 183 government school teachers in Chiniot to conduct the door-to-door household survey to gauge the social and economic condition of residents.

The three-month Punjab Socio-Economic Registry (PSER) survey began on Oct 13, 2025, and the hired teachers were to be given Rs40,000 per month with a daily survey target. However, the teachers had not been paid even a penny for their services.

Punjab Teachers Union President Safdar Kalroo told Dawn that teachers were directed to join this survey even when Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat had given clear instructions that no teacher would be engaged for any non-educational activities. He said the teachers accepted this work as a national duty, however, every month they were promised that they would be paid next month.

He said the three-month long project was completed on Jan 15, 2026, but even after its completion, the teachers had yet to receive their due payments for all three months.

He demanded that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz take notice and direct the authorities concerned to pay the teachers their dues.

When contacted, Chiniot District Education Authority Chief Executive Officer Azhar Sohail Niazi said the department had received some amount as honorarium for the teachers. He said that this amount would be credited in their accounts after the completion of codal formalities.

ARRESTED: The Chenab Nigar Police have arrested two persons for allegedly sodomising a 13-year old boy.

According to details, the teenager went out to play in the street but when he did not return, his family started searching for him. They found the child near Mohallah Darul Rehmat Wasti in a bad condition and the child claimed that two persons from the same area had kidnapped him on a motorcycle.

He told the family that they took him to the house of one of the accused, where they tortured and raped him. They also threatened to kill him if he told anyone about the incident, the boy claimed.

The Chenab Nigar Police registered a case and arrested both the accused.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2026