LAHORE, Jul 22 (DNA): The Punjab cabinet has approved an increase in the
salary and pension of government officials on the pattern of the federal
government.

The cabinet accorded approval in its 21st meeting with Punjab Chief
Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi in the chair.

Provincial ministers, advisers, chief secretary, top cop and officials
concerned attended the meeting that took up 14-point agenda.

Reportedly government employees of the Punjab Civil Secretariat and 38
provincial departments raised the demand for salary hike equivalent to
the rest of the country.

They were off the view that the federal government increased the
salaries of its employees by 35 per cent in the annual budget.

The provincial governments in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh
followed the federal government and raised the salaries by 30 to 35%.

But the Punjab government increased the salaries of civil servants on
the basis of the previous basic salary, they stressed adding that the
Punjab government should have increased the salaries of government
employees and other facilities on the pattern of the federal government.

The deviation had resulted in economic hardship for millions of
employees, they added.