Retired employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills are planning to stage demonstrations in five cities of the country to protest non-payment of their dues by the government despite court’s directives.
The Finance Division had requested the Accountant General of Pakistan to authorise the State Bank of Pakistan to credit the amount of Rs11.44 billion to the PSM so that it could pay off dues to its retired employees. The request was made on the directives of the Sindh High Court.
The loan requested by the Finance Division was to be used to pay the remaining 90% dues to the litigant retired employees in compliance of the decision made by the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet, according to a report published by The News.
In April, the ECC had approved the release of Rs1.30 billion loan to the PSM to pay off these dues. Similarly, it had directed for the issuance of Rs3.85 billion per annum over the next three years for the settlement of all outstanding liabilities of litigants in the case involving the PSM.
However, Retired Employees Unity of Pakistan Steel Secretary Mirza Maqsood says that this amount will only settle the claims of those retired employees who had gone into litigation against the PSM.
The Retired Employees Unity of Pakistan Steel was formed by the ex-employees to push their interests, especially claiming the dues from the loss-making public entity.
The amount announced by the government will only settle dues of around 3,300 retired employees, according to Maqsood. There are another 3,600 retired employees who could not approach the courts.
“According to the SHC ruling, the relevant government authorities were told to pay all retired employees their dues whether they had approached the courts or not,” Maqsood told Samaa Money.
These retired employees will hold demonstrations in front of press clubs in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Makli on September 1 to protest the government’s non-compliance of court orders.
The Sindh High Court will hold the next hearing of the case September 3. Maqsood believes that another Rs13 billion are required to pay the dues of the rest of the retired PSM employees.
