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Apathy of Punjab Health Department
ACCORDING to Punjab Civil Services Pension Rules, the responsibility for initiation and completion of pension papers of the Government servant of BP-16 and above lies with the Head of Department concerned (in my case Specialized Health Care & Medical Education Department, Punjab) and it is essential to ensure that a Government servant to receive his/her pension when it becomes due.
Soon after my retirement, I applied for the Pension notification, but the dally-delaying tactics and apathetic attitude of the Department caused inordinate delay of 5 years, perhaps I could not grease their hands, which is a normal phenomenon in the health department of Punjab.
My case is very simple, I joined the Health Department, Government of Punjab, through Punjab Public Commission in BP: 16, as a staff nurse on 10.12.1976 and retired after superannuation on 11.1.2016 in BP: 18 as Assistant Director Nursing Rawalpindi, having served for 27 years (which includes 5 years of deputation period (granted by Govt. of Punjab Health Department, to serve as Registrar Pakistan Nursing Council, Islamabad (an autonomous statutory body, enacted by the Federal Government through parliament).
Ever since my retirement, I repeatedly applied for pension notification along with my complete service record, already present in my Master File (as a rule).
But the Nursing Section of Health Department kept me running unnecessarily from door to door to collect this record. In fact, they never bothered to open the Master File for service record.
Then I personally met the Secretary Health, requested Chief Minister Punjab, Health Minister Punjab, P.M. Portal, none of them took any action; the result is that my pension has been delayed for 5 years.
During this period I got my 3 daughters married through bank loan. Now my family suffers from financial crisis it is all due to apathetic attitude of the Department.
Had I greased their hands earlier, my job would have done on the first day. I most humbly request the Prime Minister of Pakistan to personally intervene in my case and to get my pension case finalized with all outstanding dues since 24.1.99., issuing instructions to the Punjab Health Department as well as District Accounts Office, Rawalpindi for urgent payment.
NIGHAT I DURRANI
Islamabad
A letter to
the PM of
the Pakistan
It is to bring to the kind notice of PM Imran Khan with heavy heart that the electricity situation in Latifabad Unit No 11, Hyderabad, Sindh is getting very worse day by day.
Transformer installed in that area is dysfunctional and has not been repaired for the last several; days.
Reportedly, Rs. 1000 are being collected from each house to repair the said transformer. It is very sad that the masses are confronting price hike in different daily household items including petrol prices, milk price etc.
On the other hand, WAPDA is totally failed to fulfil their fundamental right and give solace to the masses even getting humongous bills on a monthly basis by price hike in electricity.
This may lead to create the chaos in status quo of the society and augmenting street crimes, suicides and other misdemeanours since the masses are already in trouble with low income and inflation.
It is very humble requested to the PM to look into this matter as the situation in the said area is getting worse with every passing day and the people of the area are in troublesome situation.
SYED WAQAR ALI
Latifabad, Hyderabad
Smog challenge
Smog is a huge challenge for Pakistan which has brought multiple sufferings. Mostly Lahore, the capital of Punjab, is the worst affected one.
The climate in Lahore is the worst in the world for years because of the burning of waste material, smokes of vehicles and burning of agricultural waste.
People do burn the insignificant material in the fields which is a great risk for increasing the rate of smog.
The situation deteriorates during winter months when smoke mingles with fog. Smog is a mixture of smoke and fog.
Scores of people died because of smog in the recent past in Pakistan. So, the authorities, especially of Punjab, require taking actions to prevent smog in Punjab.
They need to ban the burning of insignificant material. If they won’t stand alert, the situation gets worse in future.
IMTAIZ JAVID
Via email
Global dilemma
Today, millions of products – cars, washing machines, smart phones and more – rely on computer chips, also known as semiconductors.
The 2020–21 global chip shortage is a lasting crisis in which the need for integrated circuits (commonly known as semiconductor chips) is greater than the supply, impacting more than 169 industries and has led to leading scarcities and queues amongst customers.
The cause of the global chip dilemma is a combination of numerous circumstances with the snowball effect of the COVID-19 pandemic being the major reason.
The economic effect of the global chip shortage that has remained for several months since 2020 could be felt directly by phone users as phone makers continue to tackle the challenge of rising Smartphone production costs.
The chip shortage largely affected the automotive industry in the early stages. There was every possibility that the heightened production price would run to higher prices of numerous of its forthcoming smart phones.
Some chipmakers have proclaimed strategies for development in capacity but the consequence on global chip supply may not become reasonable until after two years on account of the sophisticated and complex methods involved in chip production.
DEEDAR ALI BANGWAR
Kandhkot
