LAHORE: The interim Punjab government issued a notification about a 30 percent increase in the salaries of government employees. However, the employees demanded that the increase should be aligned with the announcement made by the federal government.
According to a notification, the government has granted a 30 percent ad-hoc relief allowance in basic salaries to employees, effective from July 1. This raise applies to all civil servants and contract employees on standard terms and conditions of contract appointment.
The respective departments will accommodate the relief allowance within the budgetary allocation for the Financial Year 2023-2024, without receiving any supplementary grant.
However, the employees have rejected the raise and are considering protests in the province. They demand salary increases and other facilities on par with the federal government.
In response to the protests, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had a discussion with caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi about the salaries and pensions of government employees in Punjab. They talked about bringing the pension and salaries of Punjab employees in line with the federation.
Naqvi assured the PM of revisiting the matter of salaries with the cabinet. The government employees in Punjab had been protesting to gain approval for their demands. The protests ceased when the government provided assurances.
An All Government Employees Alliance was formed to pressurize the government into accepting their demands.
