SAHIWAL: The All Government Employees Grand Alliance (Agega) has announced a protest rally from Masjid-iShuhada to the Punjab Assembly on June 25 against the Punjab government`s budget, calling it an `anti-public servant budget`.

Agega leaders told Dawn that a provincewide campaign would be launched if their demands were not met after Muharram 10.

Punjab Agega Chairman Khalid Javed Sanghera and General Secretary Faiza Raana urged members of the 40 affiliated organisations including school, commerce and college teachers, Apca, health workers and others to participate in the Lahore rally.

Yasin Warraich, provincial president of the Punjab Teachers Union, criticised the Punjab government for failing to safeguard the rights of provincial government employees, unlike the PML-N`s federal govern-ment, which, he said, honoured its commitments in the national budget.

The leadership questioned the disparity in pay increases, saying that if parliamentarians` salaries can be increased by 188pc, why is there only a 10pc raise for public servants? Agega demands the inclusion of a 30pc Disparity Reduction Allowance in the finance bill, along with an increase in pensions. It also calls for the abolition of the 35 to 40pc commutation deduction in pensions and gratuity at retirement, and the removal of the 10-year cap on widow pensions.

Criticising the revised pension rules, the alliance said that calculating pensions based on basic pay instead of running pay results in nearly a 40pc loss for long-serving employees.

`It is unjust to evaluate pensions on outdated scales, causing a loss of 40 to 45pc in pension and gratuity after 30 to 35 years of public service, a resolution by the alliance reads.