IT has been three years since I retired from Radio Pakistan. While almost every institution and department in the country faces difficult circumstances, the situation at Radio Pakistan is such that since Jan 1, 2020, retired employees have continued to run around for the end-of-service settlement.

Some of the retired employees had approached the Federal Ombudsman in this regard. During the subsequent hea-ring, the administration cited lack of funds as the reason for the delay.

In response, the ombudsman granted three months’ time. The administration challenged the ruling before the president of Pakistan, who ordered that the pay-ments should be made within the given time.

Following this, the bureaucracy’s traditional tactics came into play, and it started making payment to only three retired employees per month, informing the President House that the order had been complied with. The number of employees awaiting such payments has now reached 370 in the last five years.

If the process continues at the current pace, it will take more than 10 years for all 370 employees to receive the payment, and in this time, many would have passed away without receiving their dues, while more would have joined the list.

The government should show mercy on the retired employees and make arran-gements for the payment of their dues.

Muhammad Siddique Paracha
Controller Programme (retired),
Radio Pakistan
Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2025