Around 11,500 former Utility Stores Corporation employees are still waiting for their financial severance package, one year after Utility Stores were shut down across Pakistan.
The workers were laid off on August 31, 2025. However, their financial package has still not been released, according to Arif Hussain Shah, President of the All Pakistan Workers Alliance (APWA).
The delay has increased concerns among former employees who have been waiting for their payments for almost a year.
Workers demand compensation
Arif Hussain Shah said the affected employees should receive the financial package promised to them after losing their jobs.
He also demanded additional compensation because of the long delay in releasing the funds.
According to Shah, thousands of former Utility Stores employees have been waiting for financial relief since the organisation’s shutdown. He called on the authorities to resolve the matter without further delay.
The workers’ representative also raised questions about corruption allegations linked to the department.
He questioned why the allegations had still not been proven despite a full year having passed since the closure.
Questions raised over assets
Shah also expressed concerns about the bidding process involving Utility Stores Corporation assets worth billions of rupees.
He said serious questions remained over how the bidding process had been handled.
The APWA president demanded an immediate forensic audit of the process. He said such an audit would help determine whether the bidding of valuable assets had been carried out properly.
He also called for the formation of an independent commission to investigate the corruption allegations surrounding the department.
Utility Stores had operated as a government-backed retail network previously, providing essential household items and groceries through outlets in different parts of the country.
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