PESHAWAR: The retired employees of the University of Peshawar on Wednesday staged a protest demonstration to press the university administration to release their pensions for the month of February before Eid.
After the protest demonstration, the university administration held talks with the protesting former employees and agreed to issue 50 percent of their pensions before Eid and the remaining would be given after the religious festivity.
The University of Peshawar has been suffering from the worst financial crisis and it has been unable to issue salaries and pensions to its employees on time. According to president of Peshawar University Teachers Association (PUTA), Dr Zakirullah Jan, the serving employees could receive their salaries for the month of February as late as by March 13 after they exerted enough pressure on the university administration.
Similarly, the retired employees from Grade1 to 16 were given their pensions by March 15-16, while the pensioners of BPS 17 and above could not be issued their pensions by March 18. The pensioners, mostly retired professors, took to the streets on Wednesday. They were led by former president PUTA Prof Dr Arbab Khan Afridi and others. They were holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans urging the university administration to ensure early release of their pensions so that they could make preparations for the Eid.
The serving and retired employees were of the opinion that all the other departments have given salaries of March to their employees, but they were struggling to get their salaries for the month of February.
Dr Zakirullah Jan said that it has become a routine for them to stage protests for getting salaries. Now that the month of March is leading towards its end, he added, the university administration has no arrangement for giving salaries to the employees in the first week of April.
