OKARA: Some 550 low-scale (BS-4 to BS-16) retired employees of the Okara Municipal Committee have allegedly been denied their pension amounts for the last eight months, while more than two dozen of them have not been paid their full gratuity amounts.

Some of the affected pensioners, including former president of MC CBA union Rafique Chishti, Baba Hasan Ali and Baba Ashraf Parwana told Dawn on Thursday that the unpaid pension amount for the last eight months has totalled up to Rs17 million.

They say that the MC officials concerned have been citing a lack of funds as the reason for non-payment of pension to the 550 retired employees.

They said they have learnt that the Punjab local government department has regularly been transferring the pension funds to the Okara MC, but the retired elderly employees, including women and members of the Christian community, were being unjustly denied their due amounts.

They say the denial of pension has pushed them and their families on the verge of starvation.

They have appealed to DC Ahmad Usman Javid and MC administrator Ahmad Saleem to take notice of the matter and do the needful to provide relief to them, so that they could get the pension amount regularly, along with their outstanding dues.

Moreover, they said that over two dozen of the affected pensioners have also been denied their full gratuity amounts.

Baba Parwana said that out of his total gratuity of Rs1.8m, he has so far been paid only Rs900,000. He appealed to the relevant officials in the Punjab government to intervene and resolve the issue.

MC Chief Officer Omar Naseem said one-month pension would be disbursed by day after tomorrow. He said this backlog of the unpaid pensions was due to severe financial constraints being faced by MC.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2026