25pc pay raise agreed after govt employees protest
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Ag APP
ISLAMABAD: Government negotiators have announced that federal employees will be given “ad hoc relief” of 25 per cent, a day after a public sector workers’ protest in Islamabad over a pay raise sparked clashes with the police.
In a press conference on Thursday, defence minister Pervez Khattak, flanked by interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and parliamentary affairs minister Ali Muhammad Khan, said all federal employees would be given ad hoc relief of 25 per cent, while the “issues of upgradation (promotions)” will be resolved after the budget.
Khattak said there is a disparity between the salaries of different departments, which range from 100 to 200 per cent. “The ad hoc relief will be merged in the budget,” he said, adding that the Prime Minister spoke to two chief ministers and asked them to resolve salaries’ issue of provincial employees as per directions of the federal government.
Notification of ad hoc relief issued after successful negotiations between ministerial team and protesters
ISLAMABAD:
The government notified on Thursday a 25% ad hoc increase in the salaries of the federal employees following successful negotiations between the protesting secretariat staffers and a three-member ministerial committee.
The finance ministry said in the notification that the federal employees in grade 1 to 19 would get the increased salaries from March 1. It added that the ad hoc relief could be made part of the basic salary in the next fiscal year.
An agreement with protesters was reached after Wednesday’s fierce clashes between the employees and security forces in the federal capital. The employees had been protesting the increase in their wages.
Islamabad: The Pakistan government approved a pay increase for federal workers on Thursday following which the employees ended the protest in Islamabad.
Government officials convinced the federal employees to end the protest a day after the city saw the demonstration turn violent as protestors clashed with police throughout the day and officers resorted to heavy tear gas shelling to disperse the crowd. At least one police officer lost his life and dozens of employees were arrested during the protest that disrupted traffic and the work at government offices, local media reported.
Thousands of government employees were holding a rally in Islamabad to seek at least a 40 per cent pay raise, which they said the government has been delaying for long.