October 25, 2007	Thursday	Shawwal 12, 1428

GILGIT, Oct 24: Civil servants in various departments of the Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan) said their grievances were ignored and the constitutional package announced by President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday in Gilgit did not carry any relief for them.

Talking to Dawn many employees said their salary structure was not consistent with their counterparts in the four provinces of the country and they had not been getting conveyance, house rent, medical and other allowances at par with federal government employees based in Islamabad.

They said they had pinned great hopes with the presidential tour that their slashed allowance of Gilgit Compensatory Allowance would be restored but no such decision was made during the tour of the president. They said that low grade employees are hard hit after slash of this allowance which paid to them at the rate of Rs450 per month.

They accused the members of the Northern Areas Legislative Council for not putting forward their demands to the president and said that the members only spoke for their own perks and privileges.

The government employees, however, appreciated President Musharraf for creating around 1,000 news jobs and enhancing region’s budget from Rs4 billion to Rs7.6 billion.