The strain on Pakistan’s economy has prompted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) administration to consider declaring a financial emergency in the region.
Recent years have seen political unrest, severe inflation that has affected the entire nation, particularly KP, and difficulty for the government to pay public employees. As things worsened, senior officials in the area and the Finance Department discussed taking drastic measures to prevent default.
During the meeting chaired by the acting chief minister, representatives suggested reversing the government employees’ 35 percent pay raise.
The second option was to cut salaries by 25% in order to save billions of dollars. To further manage the issue, KP officials are thinking of reducing salaries.
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It was found that officials are considering doing away with executive and health professional allowances as well as other benefits that are provided to public employees.
Mushtaq Yousafzai, a senior journalist, has observed that the province’s current financial problem is the result of a well-planned formula. Federal funds are available, but they are not being given to the province.
Yousafzai argues that the caretaker Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary, and other prominent provincial personalities have not done enough to advocate for change.
This is the first time in the province’s history that the government is having trouble paying its workers, which shows that its responsible leadership is oblivious to the state of the province.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is thinking of hiring Class IV workers on a daily wage basis as a reaction to the financial crisis.
We are assessing the process and necessity of moving Class IV employees across the province from wage recruitment on a daily basis to permanent employment.
Class IV employees, on the other hand, are strongly against this suggestion. They argue that hiring officers on a daily wage basis instead of the lowest-paid staff will solve the financial issue.
According to the Establishment Department’s sources, the province is currently hiring a significant number of Class IV workers.
The province treasury is being strained by the cost of salaries and pensions for those who work full-time. In light of this, the prospect of employing Class IV workers on a daily pay basis rather than a permanent basis is being explored.
A final decision has not yet been reached on this matter. Work on this issue has begun, and a resolution is shortly to come.
The Class IV Association of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s general secretary, Khalid Javed, rejected this idea, stating that Class Four workers shouldn’t be held accountable for the province’s financial difficulties.
He claims that paying the Chief Secretary and all other officers on a daily wage basis would enable them to truly operate in the best interests of the province, thereby saving the government’s coffers billions of rupees a year.
It is compared to the genocide of Class IV employees when their fundamental rights are taken away under the pretense of changes.
