SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A retired man waiting in a queue to receive his salary died in Sulaimani city on Tuesday, an official said, as the Kurdish government is behind paying retirees in the Kurdistan Region.
Retirees once again lined up in front of Tanjaro bank in Sulaimani early on Tuesday in an attempt to receive their salaries been delayed for over a month.
Director of Sulaimani’s Emergency Center Saman Nadr told Esta Media Network that a retired man, 81, who was waiting in a queue outside the bank died at 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
“The man passed away before our team arrived there,” he said.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is behind paying salaries of retirees for the month of February. Despite a rise in oil prices, the KRG blamed Baghdad for the delay in payment. Earlier this month, the federal government decided to send 200 billion dinars as payment for public servants to the Region.
Today’s incident raised the death toll to three. On March 19, two other retirees waiting in a queue outside the same bank collapsed and died due to stampede.
Two other retirees were taken to hospital with injuries after a car collided with them outside agriculture bank in Sulaimani in the same day.
The KRG has begun distributing public servants’ salaries for February since February 25. Despite promises from senior officials, the government has not been able to complete February payment.
