The office of Accountant General (AG) Sindh has become the center of mismanagement and corruption, official sources told Business Recorder on Wednesday. They said that AG Sindh office is the center, where Sindh government employees visit for their gratuity fund, pension and other financial facilities, but the officials posted there have made bribe mandatory for all.
If a government employee comes here, he has to pay bribe right from the entrance gate to almost all concerned officials, they opined. According to sources, the gatekeeper and the lift operator of the AG Sindh office collects Rs 10 a person for entry into the building. After this, the officials posted at the reception counters demands Rs 300 for collecting the file including the death cases, and forwarding it to the concerned section, they said.
"If a person refuses to pay the bribe, then the staff members raise objections and return the file, compelling government employees to pay them the money", they added. They said that rates have been fixed for all cases, and the visiting employees are informed by their agents, present inside the building about the rates, adding that normally Rs 6,000 are being collected for the pension file. They said Rs 200 was being collected for the intimation slip and Rs 200 for return of a Service Book of the government employee.
The sources said that the treasury officers demand Rs 500 to 800 for a file. As for as the GP fund file is concerned, they said the bribe is decided after seeing the total amount, which usually touches Rs 50,000 to 100,000. If an employee is dead or a file contains any minor mistake, the officials blackmail the already disturbed employees, resulting in payment of heavy bribe.
The sources said the officials at the Pay Fixation Section are the most corrupt as they charge Rs 300 as stamp fee on a employee service book. Every government employee has to afix stamp on his service book every year, they pointed out. Moreover, the employees who come from interior Sindh are the worst sufferers, as they do not know that they have to pay huge money to get approval of their pension and GP fund.
Sometimes, the officials make lame excuses of having no budget to those that do not grease their palms, they said and also showed couple of people with white envelops in hands of visiting employees. When interviewed, a young boy, Ali Nawaz Tebani said his father had died last year and the process of pension and GP fund was still in process with the AG Sindh office. He said the documents were returned after his refusal to pay bribe.
He said he approached his uncle, who is a government officer, the officials raised objections and sought manual salary slips from him. After providing the slips, the officials once again asked for photo form, he said, adding that his family was facing financial constraints and he had no money for bribe.
Comments
Comments are closed.