SWABI: The public sector employees here have demanded of the government to increase their salaries and merge all the ad hoc reliefs in the pay in the budget 2019-20.

Talking to this correspondent here on Wednesday, they said that salaries of the government employees should be doubled keeping in view the rising inflation.

They criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government for continued economic crisis in the country and termed it a result of wrong policies of its economic managers. They said that inflation had reached 9.41 per cent, the highest in five years, along with surge in prices of commodities and devaluation of currency.

They said that they would not demand pay increase if the federal and provincial governments controlled the upward trend in the prices of essential commodities and brought it to the earlier level.

Urge authorities to release salary well before Eid

All Teachers Association district president Abdul Latif said that the government should merge all the ad hoc allowances in the basic pay and raise the employees pay according to the price hike.

Abdul Hakim, district president of paramedical association, said that the employees’ salaries should be increased in accordance with the rate of inflation.

Shaukat Ali Anjum, national coordinator of Pakistan Workers Federation, said that only 10 per cent increase was not acceptable to them because the parliamentarians’ salary was increased by 200 per cent.

Abid Hussain, district president of All Irrigation Employees Union, demanded that the house rent and medical allowance should be given to the employees on the basis of the current basic pay.

Meanwhile, leaders of various unions of public sector employees demanded of the provincial government to release the salary for the current month by May 25 to enable the employees buy essential items in time for Eidul Fitr.

GRENADE ATTACK: Unidentified miscreants hurled a hand grenade into a house of an entrepreneur family in Yar Hussain village on Tuesday night. The house was partially damaged, but no one was injured in the attack.

The target was the same family of two brothers, Shahroom Khan and Zainab Ali, who were attacked by unidentified motorcyclists when they refused to pay ransom to unknown callers.

Zainab Ali was killed on the spot and Mr Shahroom succumbed to his injuries later in the hospital in that incident.

An official said that the grenade attack showed that the extortionists were still following the family. Police have registered an FIR against unknown attackers.

Meanwhile, a house was gutted in Sodher village here on Wednesday. Munsif Ali, owner of the house, told mediapersons that electric short-circuit caused the fire. He said that no one was injured the incident, but all the goods in his one-room house were gutted.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2019