Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, Murtaza Solangi, informed the Senate on Tuesday that the Pakistan Steel Mill’s (PSM) administration, from its funds, has paid the last four months’ salaries to Khateebs and Moazzins. Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Senator Kamran Murtaza regarding retrenchment and non-payment of salaries to 32 Khateebs/Moazzins performing duties in various mosques under the administrative control of Pakistan Steel Mills, he explained that the PSM mosque committee had hired the services of 37 Khateebs and Moazzins whose salaries were being paid from an amount collected from the employees of Pakistan Steel. He said that the process of laying off PSM employees began in 2021, resulting in the number of employees decreasing from 8,600 to 3,000. Due to this decrease in the number of employees, the collection to pay salaries to these employees decreased. An amount of Rs. 134,000 from Steel Mill employees is collected, and due to the decrease in collection, it was not possible to pay the salaries of 37 scholars and Moazzins. Furthermore, he said that due to the same reason, the contracts of 32 scholars and Moazzins could not be renewed. “As soon as these funds are collected, a decision will be made regarding the contracts of 32 scholars and Moazzins,” he added. Stipend Claims Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi informed the Senate on Tuesday that the claims related to the educational stipends were cleared by the Federal Employees Benevolent and Group Insurance Funds (FEB&GIF) within 45 days. Responding to a question during the question hour in the Senate, he said that on average, 35,000 to 40,000 claims per annum were being received by the FEB&GIF for educational stipends from federal government employees. He said that as of December 2023 and January 2024, around 4,997 claims were pending for the processing. The main reasons for this delay were twofold, he said adding first, the seasonal nature of claims, as the period from August to March was the peak time for receiving educational stipend claims due to examination results being declared from SSC to Masters during this period. Secondly, the minister said, the shortage of staff was another factor contributing to the pendency of claims, as there were currently 94 employees working against the sanctioned strength of 127 posts in FEB&GIF.