Federal govt ups salaries of its workers by 30%-35%

Increase carried out under category of adhoc relief allowances

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government has made a principled decision to increase the salaries of its employees under the category of adhoc allowances by 30% to 35% in its budget for the next financial year.

It will be applicable from July 1 after the budget is approved by parliament.

A 35% hike has been proposed in the salaries of government employees from grade-1 to grade-16.

Similarly, a 30% increase in the salaries of grade-17 to grade-22 employees has been recommended.

The raise in salaries will take place in the context of adhoc relief allowances.

The pensions of retired employees have been jacked up by 17.5%.

In addition to this, the minimum wage of a labourer of the federal government has been increased to Rs32,000 from Rs25,000 last year.

Similarly, the Employees Old-Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) pension has been increased from Rs8,500 to Rs10,000.

At present, the EOBI gives Rs4 billion to  its 430,000 registered pensioners.

The institution has issued cards to all its registered pensioners. Through the EOBI card, the pensioner can easily withdraw their amount from an ATM machine and other easy money facility in any city or town in the country.

Earlier, three proposals related to salaries and pensions of government employees were under consideration in the budget.

A 100% increase in medical and conveyance allowances of government employees had been suggested.

Besides, a 10% increase in their salaries as adhoc allowances had been proposed.

It had been suggested to increase the pensions by 10%. It was also proposed to hike up the medical allowance of pensioners by 100%.

The second proposal wss to increase the salaries of all government employees from grade-1 to grade-22 by 25% apart from hiking their medical and conveyance allowances.

As per the suggestion, the medical allowance of the pensioners should be increased too.

Apart from that, the pensions should be boosted up by 15%.

According to the third proposal, a 30% increase should be made in the salaries of the employees from grade-1 to grade-16.

It was suggested that the salaries of employees from grade-17 and above should be raised up by 20%.

The medical and conveyance allowances of the employees should be increased by up to 50%.

The pensions should be increased by 20%. Besides, the medical allowance of the pensioners should be raised as well.