SANGHAR, Jan 9: A large number of Sindh government employees, particularly the retired ones, are made to suffer as the provincial Accountant General office delays their cases of pension, GP fund retirement benefits and transfer of accounts etc.

This was revealed by an investigation conducted by this correspondent, which showed that the cases were delayed on one or the other pretext for years and only those were cleared whose beneficiaries paid bribe to the AG staff.

Many retired government officials have died but they did not get dues in their life. Even the orders of the Federal Ombudsman do not help the government employees in this regard.

It is an open secret that a case is properly considered only when the AG staff is paid bribe through an agent. Mubarak Ali Sanjrani, assistant professor at Government College, Sanghar, said that cases of 24 teachers of the college, duly forwarded by the district accounts officer, were sent to the AG office two years ago for transfer of their accounts.

Despite hectic efforts and lodging complaints with the ombudsman, only eight cases had so far been approved, he said. Mr Sanjrani said that the AG office was custodian of the GPF money of government servants but it was depriving the retired officials of the same.

The AG office issues incorrect GPF statements with a difference of thousands of rupees and demands almost half of the remaining amount as a bribe.

Lal Khatoon, assistant professor at the Government Girls' College here, received a GPF statement, showing a balance of Rs148,734 as the AG office had applied a wrong formula.

When she knocked the door of the ombudsman, a new GPF statement of Rs233,324 was issued to her. Mr Sanjrani, Preetam Rathore and Khuda Bux Bhurgari, all assistant professors at the local government college, had been issued GPF statements with a difference of Rs40,000, Rs26,000, and Rs10,000 respectively.

A teacher, Shakila Jameel, was issued two GP fund balance sheets for the same year. Despite repeated requests, she had not received the rectified GPF slip and hence denied the fund amount.

Hundreds of such cases can be cited in the interior of Sindh. The plight of the retired officials or those who are nearing the retirement age, is note-worthy. First hurdle to the receipt of dues by them is created by the employer department. A retired professor's file was sent back from Karachi to the Sanghar college after several months with a note that the photograph was not properly fixed on the form.

Record of forty years ago are demanded by the AG office but it is almost impossible for an employee, who had served in four or five districts, to collect previous record. It is alleged that the AG staff deliberately misplaced the record lying with them.

Most of the retired employees have to face a very tough time as they can not get their dues in their lives. Recent tragic deaths of Professor Ghazi Khan Jakhrani and his wife are a glaring example of this phenomenon.

In Sanghar, Professor Malik Ehsan died during service and his heirs paid Rs51,000 to an agent to get his pension and other benefits.

Mr Sanjrani has suggested that the pension/GP fund issues should be settled six months before the retirement of an employee and he/she should get the cheque in one week after the retirement.