SWABI, June 19: All Teachers Association President Abdul Latif on Wednesday termed the federal budget disappointing and said the  government employees had been ignored in it.

Talking to Dawn, he said the budget would widen the gulf between the rich and the poor, as a number of incentives had been announced for the affluent. “Instead of implementing the second phase of the revised pay scale announced in 2001, the finance minister only announced Rs50 increase in the medical allowance, which is a joke in view of the inflation,” he said.

The association’s general secretary, Zarnabi Khan, said 15 per cent general sales tax had been imposed on sugar, vegetable ghee, cooking oil  and other essential commodities but no raise was announced in the salaries, that showed the government’s apathy towards the condition of the employees.

He said that instead of giving relief to the common man, the minister announced the slashing of customs duties on cars to facilitate the luxuries for the affluent class.

Anjuman-i-Kashtkaran General Secretary Ismail Jan Khan said that although the federal minister had announced that Rs136 billion had been allocated for poverty alleviation, the incumbent and the previous regimes were responsible for creating a class-based society.

He said the government had declared agriculture as the backbone of the country’s economy, but it failed to give any relief to the poor peasants.   The imposition of the GST on essential items would weaken their economic position, he said.

Gadoon Labour Federation President Liaquat Bahadar said the governments prepared their budgets according to the dictates of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, so no relief was ever given to the oppressed masses nor was economic prosperity achieved.