‘Handsome’ raise in salary, pension in budget 2011-12
* Govt considering two options on salary increase
* 30% increase in pension for all retired employees
By Sajid Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD: The federal government is set to announce an increase in salaries and pensions of its serving and retired employees in the budget 2011-12, official sources informed Daily Times on Monday.
According to the sources, two options for salary increase are being considered. The first option is to revise pay scales with an increase in salaries ranging between 5 to 20 percent, while the second one includes 30 to 50 percent ad-hoc relief allowance with no revision in pay scales in the upcoming budget.
The proposals on salary and pension package being finalised in the Ministry of Finance would be presented before the federal cabinet in a special budget session on June 3.
The Ministry of Finance is likely to propose to the cabinet a revision of pay scales by merging some eight ad-hoc relief allowances in the new pay scales, however, the 30-50 percent increase in salaries announced in the budget 2010-11 would not be merged into the revised pay scales. The proposal seeks to revise the pay scales upward by merging eight ad-hoc relief allowances and allowing further increase in salaries ranging between 5-20 percent keeping in view the fiscal space available with the federal government.
The Finance Ministry will propose revision in pay scales with further increase in salaries with four options like 5, 10, 15 or 20 percent in accordance with the fiscal space available with the government, said the sources.
The ministry is also likely to propose to the federal cabinet that if expenditures on option number one are not within the available resources, then ad-hoc relief allowance ranging between 30-50 percent on existing pay scales should be considered.
The sources informed this scribe that constitution of the Pay and Pension Commission was also part of the budget package. The commission would be tasked with completing the proposals on monetisation of perks and privileges of officers of grade 17-22 in the first phase.
The commission would recommend monetisation of perks and privileges like house, car, driver, telephone and servants in its reports to be finalised and presented to the Finance Ministry by January 2012. The recommendations of the Pay and Pension Commission would be implemented in the budget of the fiscal year 2012-13.
According to the sources, the government is set to announce 30 percent increase in pension of its retired employees, irrespective of their retirement year. They said the government had increased its employees’ salaries by 50 percent and pension by only 20 percent in the budget 2010-11. But this time, the government is planning to satisfy pensioners in the upcoming budget by increasing their pension by 30 percent.
Source: Daily Times
Date:5/31/2011
” 
” 
” 
” 
” 
