By Imtiaz Hussain
SUKKUR: Thousands of government employees and pensioners in Khairpur faced severe financial hardship this month after a technical failure in the new Micro Payment Gateway delayed the disbursement of salaries and pensions.
From Aug 1 to 4, the provincial finance department migrated salary and pension payments to a new “Micro Payment Gateway” system aimed at enabling faster and direct bank transfers. However, the system crashed due to server overload and bank reconciliation issues, resulting in delays in payments.
Teachers, health workers, police personnel and more than 40,000 pensioners in districts including Khairpur, Shikarpur and Larkana reported that their payments had not been credited to their accounts.
Employees complained that they visited banks as usual to withdraw their salaries and pensions but failed to receive their payments. Bank officials, when approached, advised them to contact their respective Accounts Offices.
They later met officials at the Accounts Offices, who informed them that technical issues had emerged due to the introduction of the new MPG system. They hoped that salaries and pensions would be deposited into bank accounts within three to five days.
Many pensioners and salaried employees said they were unaware of the MPG system and were struggling without cash for essential needs, including medicines and household rations. Finance department officials said that a “data mismatch and API failure” had caused the delay.
They added that payments were being processed manually and were expected to be credited within 48 hours. The pensioners’ association demanded compensation for the delay, saying many pensioners were facing severe financial difficulties.
