BAJAUR: Scores of pensioners protested here on Friday against the management of a private bank over unnecessary delay in pension payments to them. The retired employees gathered in front of the private bank branch in Khar and started chanting slogans against its management for ‘blocking’ their payments. They said their pensions for the month of October had already been credited to their bank accounts on November 1, and they had also received the confirmation text message from the bank on their mobile phones. However, they alleged that the management of the bank’s Khar branch was not making the payments to them despite the fact that they had been visiting it since Nov 1. The protesting employees said the bank’s management promised payments on Friday (today), but it again refused to do so after declaring that a fresh verification of their accounts would be required before disbursing the money. Talking to reporters on the occasion, Haji Abdur Raheem, Burhan Khan, Gul Khan and others said their colleagues, mostly belonging to far-flung areas of the district, had been visiting the bank for last one week to receive the cash, but they returned empty-handed. They alleged that the bank officials wanted to keep cash in its the coffers to do business on it. The pensioners said that according to the bank policy, the pensioners were needed to do their bank account verification twice a year, which they said they had already done in September. The protesters, who blocked the entrance of the bank for some time, and threatened to hold another protest along with their families if payments were not made to them till Monday, ended their agitation when a senior official of the bank assured them of making pension payments to them till Tuesday.