SWABI: Government employees have pinned hopes on the upcoming federal budget for increase in their salary and pension as they say that the provincial government has failed to accept their demand about pay raise.

The leaders of different unions of public sector employees told a gathering and journalists here on Thursday that they were striving to continue their campaign as the unprecedented inflation put their survival at stake.

Abid Hussain, provincial president of Irrigation Employees Union, said that it was an irony that secretariat employees got a massive increase in their salary while the remaining public sector employees were just given a nominal raise. He said that it created unrest among them.

“We just wait for federal government. If the centre also fails to provide relief to us then there is no option but to launch a collective struggle and fight till the end. This is our resolve to continue struggle till achieving our objectives,” he said. He added that government should not force employees to launch countrywide campaign.

Union leaders threaten to launch countrywide protest for pay raise

Shaukat Ali Anjum, provincial chairman of Local Government Employees Federation, said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders ignored them. “A huge family remains at the mercy of every employee so ignoring a worker is meant to deprive an entire family of the basic requirements of life,” he added.

He urged provincial government to revise its policy and accommodate the demands of public sector employees.

Fazal Hakim, provincial vice-president of Paramedical Association, said that members of provincial assembly and ministers increased their perks and privileges but ignored employees, who were not in a position to meet expenditures of their families.

Through a unanimously adopted resolution, they urged chief minister to reconsider his decision of increasing their salary by just 10 per cent. If here were financial problems, then perks and privileges of lawmakers and secretariat workers should also be withdrawn, they said.

Meanwhile, a 17-year-old boy drowned in Pehur High Level Canal (PHLC) when he was bathing with his friends.

Rescue 1122 officials fished out his body from the canal and handed it over to his family.

Also, Khurram Shahzad, a driver from Punjab, was critically injured when his vehicle collided with another truck at Captain Karnal Sher Khan Interchange on motorway on Thursday.

Meanwhile, police claimed to have arrested the killers of a widow and her daughter, who were killed inside their house in Yar Hussain village on May 19.

Police said that Nasreen Begum and her daughter Sumbel were killed by their relatives, who wanted to usurp their property. The arrested men were identified as Mukhtiar Khan and Qasim Khan, the brothers-in-law of Nasreen’s husband.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2024