Zubair Qureshi
More than 100 consumers in the federal capital have been waiting for payment of their claims for the last four months but no one from the postal department has come forward to comfort them.
As per details, the federal capital was rocked by a scam involving more than Rs1 million when an employee of the G-9 (Karachi Company) Post Office fled with the payment of utility bills that too in the holy month of Ramazan (April) this year. The citizens were struck when in the coming month of May they received the inflated bills with ‘fine’ amounting to more than double the last bill amount.
When they reached the Post Office they were told that they had to deposit the ‘fine’ as well as the last month’s bills which they had already paid.
“We are facing some issues with the guy who received the amount but could not send it forward,” the post office senior officials said in the beginning. However, upon the second and the third visit, they admitted the ‘guy’ had fled with the money and then ushered in a lethargic process in May, 2023 for submitting claims, writing and re-writing applications to the high ups of the Post Office.
An inquiry officer from the Melody main branch of the GPO was assigned the job to receive the claims and expedite the refunding process. However, three months have passed and according to a senior official of the Post Office it could take one or two more months to conclude. Some recovery has been made from the culprit but still none of the consumers (including pensioners, widows and low salaried govt employees or shopkeepers from the neighbouring markets) is paid any single claim.
Director General (DG) of the Post Office when approached by Pakistan Observer said he was not aware of any such scam. However, when he was shown an application of a consumer who had been fleeced by his department’s official in broad daylight and right in the middle of the Federal Capital, he stopped taking calls. Likewise, another ‘senior’ DS from the GPO Melody Branch has done nothing but giving assurances that soon the matter would be resolved. He is quoted by a colleague that he was fed up with these applicants’ calls.
The sudden cold response to the claimants’ calls is attributed to the news that the tenure of the current government is ending in the next few days. The affected consumers fear once the government is gone no one will pay heed to their complaints.
“I am a retired school teacher and had deposited more than Rs20,000 from my pension in the Karachi Company post office for my Sui Northern Gas bill. I didn’t know this public-friendly government utility service would do this to me,” said an elderly woman requesting not to be named. She lives in a street of G-9/1 close to the Karachi Company post office. Now she daily visits the post office with the hope to get her meager amount back and daily she is shown the door. She appealed to the Minister for Postal Services Maulana Asad Mehmood and Secretary Communication to look into the matter and get her hard-earned money paid or the so-called official process might take another couple of months.
