WHILST admitting the problems faced by the salaried class due to price hike, Finance Minister, Shaukat Tarin, at a news conference on Wednesday, said the government will soon frame policies to enhance their income levels.
This in fact is the only way to counter the impact of inflation.
Mostly our government officials allude to the inflation in other major countries including the United States and the United Kingdom but they fail to mention the income levels of their peoples.
There is in fact no match of the per capita income of those countries with Pakistan.
Instead of resorting to rhetoric or responding to the criticism of the opposition, the government should entirely focus on providing immediate relief to the people in these difficult times.
And the salaried class which is affected by the price hike the most, will see relief in their life when their salaries and allowances will be enhanced in accordance with the rise being witnessed in some basic commodities be it the cooking oil, petrol, wheat flour or other items.
The purchasing power of salaried class has tremendously squeezed and time has come that the government comes to their rescue.
Without waiting for the recommendations of Pay and Pension Commission which only God Almighty knows as to when will complete its work as despite the passage of almost two years, it has failed to come up with anything, the salaries and allowances such as conveyance allowance which has not been increased over the last decade or so, must be enhanced in a substantial manner, ensuring also that all the public sector organizations and their attached departments get the same.
Last year, the government had announced disparity allowance in the month of April but there are departments which have yet not extended it to their employees under one pretext or another.
All this is hurting the popularity of PTI government which must come up with a mechanism to ensure implementation of such decisions.
Increase in the salaries of public sector employees will also force the private sector to follow the suit and extend the same to their employees.
