LAHORE: A protest was staged against the low increment in salaries in this year’s Punjab budget.
Despite sizzling heat, a sit-in continued for five hours on The Mall opposite the Punjab Assembly Building in which government employees of the Civil Secretariat and other provincial departments participated to record their protest.
The protest was staged on the call of the All Pakistan Clerics Association (APCA) against the 7.5 percent increase in salaries for the upcoming fiscal year of 2015-16.
Addressing the participants, APCA President Haji Irshad said that if we stop work then the whole province will come to a standstill. He warned the government to increase the salaries; otherwise, the next strategy will be adopted. He demanded that a minimum of 50 percent increase in salaries should be announced.
On the other hand, Excise Employees Union President Muhammad Mushtaq also rejected the increment in salaries and participated in the protest on The Mall.
The government employees have termed the pay raise, which has been approved in the provincial budget 2015-16, as insufficient and unsatisfactory.
The employees said that the provincial budget has not only disappointed the civil servants but also irked the government officials.
