Ombudsman resolves applicants’ issues

LAHORE:On the mediation of the Office of the Ombudsman Punjab over a complaint of Shamim Akhtar, the Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education Multan has paid Rs1,08,69,729 to widows and family members of 17 deceased employees along with the creation of an OSD post in favour of the applicant.

It is learnt that the ombudsman office has also interacted to resolve the five-year-old family pension issue of Ruqiya Bano, a Bahawalpur-based widow, to arrange a financial benefit of six lakh, 49 thousand and 725 rupees.

Alongside, the 14-year-pending issue of Yasmin Bibi has also been resolved after the involvement of the ombudsman office and the police department paid 13 lakh, 76 thousand and 699 rupees as family pension to both the sisters, the spokesman reported.

In a similar development, the district education authority Toba Tek Singh has recompensed five and a half lakh rupees to Hafiz Muhammad Saeed as payment for the repair of its offices after he approached the ombudsman office for settlement of a six-year-old issue. As a result of the processing of complainants' applications by the regional offices, the agriculture department has given a laser-levelling unit to Basharat Ali of Nankana Sahib while a widow namely Nazran Bibi of Sargodha has received three lakh rupees as financial assistance after a long delay of ten years. Similarly, the school education department (south Punjab) has recruited the daughter of its deceased employee, namely Sobia Malik, under Rule 17-A of the Punjab Civil Servants (Appointment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1974 after the involvement of the ombudsman office and also paid her arrears of 14 lakh, 41 thousand and 713 rupees. In another development, the ombudsman office has helped Muhammad Umar Farooq of Faisalabad by ensuring that the excise department gave relief of 91 thousand and 25 rupees by correctly assessing the property tax of the house of the plaintiff.