LAHORE: The caretaker Punjab cabinet has approved Rs31 billion to meet the additional financial implication for increase in salaries and pension of government employees as a net supplementary grant.

The supplementary grant was required after the Punjab government announced grant of adhoc relief allowance 2023 at the rate of 35 per cent of basic pay to the civil servants serving from BS-1 to BS-16; 30 per cent for BS-17 to BS-22 civil servants and increase in pension at the rate of Rs17.5 per cent to pensioners.

The Punjab finance secretary had briefed the caretaker cabinet that the Punjab government had allocated Rs352 billion as salary budget for a period of four months (July-October) during the current 2023-24 fiscal (Rs158.4 billion at provincial level and Rs193.6 billion under PFC share).

A sum of Rs117.4 billion has been allocated for pensioners for the period of four months from July to October.

Published in Dawn, Aug 5th, 2023