Khyber Pakhtunkhwa proposes 10% hike in wages, pensions

In a bid to ease the burden on government employees during tough economic times, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Friday proposed a 10 per cent increase in civil servants’ salaries.

The government led by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, ahead of the Union government and three other provinces, announced its first-ever budget of over Rs 1.75 trillion for the fiscal year 2024-25.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Aftab Alam while presenting the budget in the House of Representatives announced a 10 per cent increase in the basic salary of employees and pensioners in the province.

Likewise, the provincial government announced to increase the minimum wage to Rs 36,000 from the existing Rs 32,000.

Besides the salary hike, the provincial government has also proposed an Annual Development Plan (ADP) of Rs 12,000 crore for the next financial year.

A whopping Rs416.3 billion of development expenditure was announced, which includes Rs120 billion for provincial ADP, Rs24 billion for district ADP, Rs36 billion for merged districts ADP and Rs79.29 billion for Accelerated Implementation Programme (AIP).

The government proposed to invest Rs 12 billion for the Ehsas employment scheme, youth scheme and skill scheme.

Presenting the budget in the Parliament hall, the Finance Minister said 5,000 new houses will be constructed under the Ehsas Ownership Housing Scheme at an estimated cost of Rs 300 crore.

Similarly, Rs10 billion has been allocated for construction of CRBC lift canal to irrigate 300,000 acres of land, commissioning of Tank, Chodran and Daraban dams, Rs26.9 billion for wheat procurement, Rs6.5 billion for road construction, Rs2.5 billion for emergency works, construction of Dir and Di Khan highways in public-private partnership mode, construction of road connecting Di Khan and Hakla highways, and 470 MW Lower Spat Gah project.