GUJRANWALA: Scores of widows and their children have been denied their monthly compensation and scholarship by the City District Government Gujranwala (CDGG) for the last three years owing to shortage of funds. They have urged the provincial government to release funds to save them from starvation. At a meeting held here on Saturday, a number of widows said their applications had been pending with the respective department for the last three years. It was learnt that as many as 2,094 widows of government servants had submitted applications for grant of compensation, scholarship of their children and marriage grant for their daughters for the last three years. But no payment was made to them owing to shortage of benevolent funds. Last year, District Coordination Officer Manzer Hayat had demanded Rs45 million from the Punjab government for payment of compensation to widows and scholarship to their children, but the government reportedly gave Rs7.7 million so far. When contacted, a benevolent funds officer said widows and their children would be issued cheques as soon as the Punjab government would release funds.

Source: Dawn

Date:1/14/2007