Govt okays 150% hike in bureaucrats’ allowance

The federal cabinet has approved in principle to give an executive allowance equal to 150% of the basic salary to the government officials of grade 17 to 22 in on the pattern of the provinces.

It has also been proposed to increase the orderly allowance but the final decision would be made after the modalities were decided.

The executive allowance is already being given to government employees in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.

The federal budget proposes to give disparity allowance to grade 22 officers. It also proposes to increase the orderly allowance for grade 20 to 22 officers from Rs14,000 to Rs25,000.

A 15% increase in the salaries of government employees will be applied to the basic salary of 2017. After that, the ad hoc allowances will be merged with that amount.

As a result, employees retiring from July 1 will benefit in the form of pensions.

A day earlier, the federal government, while unveiling the budget for 2022-23, had announced a 15% increase in the salary of the government employees, as well as a 5% increase in the pensions for the retired ones.

“The prime minister has rejected the Finance Ministry’s proposal of a 10% increase and has approved an increase in government employees’ salaries of 15% with the consent of the cabinet,” Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb had tweeted.

“The merging of adhoc allowances into the basic pay is approved,” she had added.

Hours before the budget was presented, government employees protested and blocked the road outside the parliament building, despite heavy contingents of police, and demanded a bump in their salaries, pensions, and medical allowance.

The government had acceded to their demands and subsequently announced the raise.

However, its single measure – the proposal to slap Rs50 per litre petroleum levy for additional Rs300 billion income – has not only overshadowed some good measures but may also make it challenging for the coalition partners to defend the budget.

The government had proposed Rs740 billion new taxes, including Rs440 billion tax measures proposed by the Federal Board of Revenue. Some of the major relief measures would be offset by the increase in petroleum prices rates due to a Rs50 per litre levy along with 17% sales tax.