Islamabad (PNI) The Ministry of Finance has announced a significant increase in adhoc relief allowances for government employees. The new notification states that employees up to gra TVde-16 will receive a 35% increase in their adhoc relief allowance. Similarly, government officials from grade-17 to grade-22 will see a 30% raise in their adhoc relief allowance. This increase will also apply to contract employees and contingent pay workers.
Furthermore, all federal government employees, including armed forces personnel, civil armed forces, and civilian employees paid from defense estimates, will be eligible for the allowance. The implementation of the new allowance rates will commence from July 1 of this year.
However, it is important to note that the adhoc relief allowance received by employees will be subject to income tax. While employees will receive the allowance during regular days off and leaves leading up to retirement, they will not be able to avail it during extraordinary leaves.
Additionally, the adhoc relief allowance will not be considered in the calculation of pension, gratuity, and house rent for the employees. It will also not be granted during employees’ deputation abroad. Nevertheless, once employees return from their overseas assignments and are appointed to their respective departments, they will resume receiving the allowance.
The notification specifies that the adhoc relief allowance will be included in employees’ personal salaries, and the ministries and divisions will allocate the necessary funds from their budgets to provide the allowance. No supplementary grants have been provided to cover the adhoc relief allowance.
In addition to the increase in adhoc relief allowances, the federal government has raised the orderly allowance for officials in grade-20 to grade-22. The orderly allowance has been increased from Rs17,500 to Rs25,000 per month according to the notification.
Other allowances, such as the rate of deputation, additional charge, special pay current charge, will remain the same, but the maximum amount for these allowances has been raised from Rs12,000 to Rs20,000.
Furthermore, the conveyance allowance for disabled employees has been doubled, increasing from Rs2,000 to Rs4,000. The Employees Old-Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) pension has also been increased from Rs8,500 to Rs10,000. Currently, the EOBI provides Rs4 billion to its 430,000 registered pensioners. The institution has issued cards to all registered pensioners, enabling them to easily withdraw their pension from ATMs and other convenient facilities in any city or town in the country.
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