ISLAMABAD: The federal government employees have expressed concerns over the increase in the compulsory monthly deduction from their salaries under the head of the Benevolent Fund (BF) and Group Insurance (GI), saying it did not guarantee any financial benefits for them at the time of retirement or during service.

They demanded that the formula of the Balochistan government should be followed in the Federal Employees Benevolent and Group Insurance Funds (FEB & GIF).

A government employee requesting not to be identified said Rs950,000 were granted to the family of a deceased employee in BPS 20 from whose salary Rs1,036 were deducted per month.

In case of the monthly contribution of Rs1,090, the family of the deceased employee would get of Rs1 million.

But even after the decision to increase the monthly contribution, an employee retiring at the age of superannuation would get nothing, he added.

He explained that the rate of monthly deduction of BF had been increased from Rs195 (2009) to Rs960 (July 2013) if the salary of the employee is above Rs39,000 (five times increase).” But the monthly benevolent grant to the deceased family was increased from Rs4,000 to Rs10,100 (2.5 times increase), he said.

It may be noted that the deduction of BF and GI is made from the salaries of all the government servants but its benefit is only given to the employees who die during service.

Prof Tahir Mahmood, the president of the Federal Government Colleges Teachers Association, told Dawn that in 2012 the Balochistan government had taken a very practical step by making a provision for its employees to avail all the amount (assured sum) on retirement that was deducted from their salaries under the head of BF and GI.

Under the policy, employees in BPS 1 to 4 of the Balochistan government get Rs120,000 at the time of retirement and Rs150,000 in case of death. Officers in BPS 17 are paid Rs500,000, those in BPS 19 given Rs850,000 and BPS 20 officers Rs1 million at the time of retirement, he added.

The federal government should take the Balochistan government policy as a model and launch such a programme.

He said from the deductions, there are also schemes of scholarships for the wards of the government employees and marriage grant (Rs50,000 for one child).

But for the federal government employees, the reimbursement of cost of studies is made in favour of only outstanding students (with 80 per cent marks).

Furthermore, the stipend scheme is valid only for a small fraction of public sector universities and colleges whereas many other reputed universities do not come under the bracket.

Besides, in case both the husband and wife are government servants, the deduction is made from the salaries of both. But if their children avail of any scholarship, this double deduction is not taken into consideration, he said.

An officer of the Benevolent Fund, who was not authorised to speak to the media on record, said the department had to follow the policies of the government.

“If the federal government instructs us to adopt the formula of the Balochistan government, we will implement it in letter and sprit,” he said.