Salaries and allowances of employees: Opposition members in KP Assembly ask govt to end disparity

PESHAWAR: The members of the opposition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday asked the government to end disparity in the salaries and allowances of the employees.

Raising the issue in the house, the opposition lawmakers maintained that the government should increase the salaries and allowances of the employees of all the attached departments.

Initiating the debate on his adjournment motion, opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani said the increase in the allowances of secretariat employees and technical staff was a good omen but employees of the attached departments also deserved the increase therefore the government should consider their demands.

Supporting the point, Nisar Mohmand of Awami National Party (ANP) said the salaries and allowances of all the employees of the government departments should be increased without any disparity.

Independent MPA Mir Kalam Wazir said the government should fulfil the promises made with employees of various departments, including the staff of the provincial assembly.

Sardar Hussain Babak of ANP said employees of the attached departments had been protesting since passage of the budget, urging the government to accept their genuine demands.

The government should increase the allowances of employees keeping in view the rising inflation, he added.

Sardar Yousaf of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) said executive allowance should also be given to the employees of attached departments. He added there should be no disparity in the salaries and allowances of government employees.

He said the district health officer Mansehra was transferred repeatedly which badly affected health delivery system in the district. He also complained about discrimination in the recruitment of class-IV employees in Mansehra.

In his reply, Minister for Finance and Health Taimur Salim Jhagra said the opposition should not distort the facts.

He clarified that the government had not made any promise to all the employees.

The minister said the provincial government increased the salaries of all government employees by 37 percent.

He maintained that executive allowance was introduced in the province in 2018 for the first time. He said it was supposed to be paid to officers holding scheduled posts (DMG and PMS) which was corrected.

Jhagra said technical allowance was meant for such government employees whose market value was high and they could earn more than their salary. The minister pointed out that all employees could not be paid executive or technical allowance.

He said major portion of the budget was being spent on pension as the provincial government pension bill stood at Rs100 billion.

The minister said it was decided in 2019 that allowance should be given on the basis of performance but unfortunately it was not implemented.

He recalled that a bill was passed during the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government in 2004 which suggested converting pension into contributory pension system.

Jhagra said had the bill been implemented and the decision had not been reversed in 2012 the government would now be having billions of rupees for allowances and development schemes.

He said the government was ready to negotiate with the employees of the attached departments to discuss how allowance could be given on the basis of performance.

On a point of order, Akram Durrani said former director general of the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) Israrul Haq had been accused of corruption in the Bus Rapid Transit project but he had been posted as director general audit.

Questioning his new posting, he said how would he respond to the audit paras against him being DG audit.

Sardar Hussain Babak supported the point raised by Akram Durrani, saying the PTI had been advocating eradicating corruption but the question was how a person facing graft charges was posted as DG audit.

He said ANP leader and candidate for Dera Ismail Khan mayor’s slot was murdered but the killers were still at large. He said terrorists were regrouping in the province but the government and security forces had become silent spectators.

He was giving his speech when lack of quorum was pointed out leading to adjournment of the session for Friday (December 31) as only 34 members were present in the House.