PM:07:10:29/03/2022
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SULAIMANI — An 83-year-old man who was
waiting to collect his pension on Tuesday (March 29) died while waiting in the
queue in front of Bakhan Bank in Sulaimani.
NRT reporter Zohra Ali said Fatah Raza died
of unknown causes on Tuesday morning and his body is currently at the forensics
department. It will be delivered to his family afterwards.
"I came here at six and he was dead,” a
fellow pensioner told NRT. "They don’t know what happened to him but his death
may have been due to the cold.”
The pensioner said he had given 15 years of
service and was pessimistic over possible changes to the system of distributing
salaries, stating he did not believe it would be changed to an electronic
system because the government thinks of retirees as "dead.”
He added, pensioners wait in line for days
and are told to return home because the bank is out of money.
Two retirees in their 70s died earlier this
month while attempting to collect their pensions in Sulaimani and Soran due to
unsafe conditions in the crowds.
The Kurdistan Regional
Government suspended the General Director of Kurdistan Central Bank – Sulaimani
and formed a committee to investigate the cause of salary delays in January
after retirees were left waiting for four days for their pensions and were later
told the banks did not possess the funds to distribute them.
(NRT Digital Media)