Pay raises for government workers were forbidden.
Officials and their families were unable to afford to buy new clothes and shoes for Eid.
Government workers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have no option but to envy their salaried and self-employed counterparts as they hurry to the marketplaces to finish their Eid shopping in Peshawar.
Markets and shopping centers are bustling as shoppers prepare for Eid. Many of these consumers received their monthly paychecks early or are self-employed. But this year, government workers in the northern region were denied a rise, shattering their aspirations and dampening the morale of their families.
Mubeen, a former police policeman, is one such person who has yet to fully recuperate from the additional grocery costs incurred during Ramadan.
All of last month’s paycheck went towards buying food for Suhoor and Iftar, therefore I have nothing saved up. My family’s sole ray of hope was the pay increase before Eid, but now we’re expecting a really dismal Eid,” Mubeen grimaced.
Naveed, a tube well operator for a local government agency in the Gulbahar neighbourhood, was in a similar position, but the emotional distress caused by his children’s lack of new clothes for Eid prompted him to take extreme steps. Every time I got an advance, I took my family shopping. However, I did not get paid on schedule this year. Therefore, I felt compelled to take out a loan to make my kids happy,” he explained.
Unfortunately, not everyone can borrow money to meet the additional costs associated with Eid preparations, and those who can’t must bear the disappointment of their loved ones.
According to The Express Tribune’s investigation and the data at its disposal, as many as 600,000 government employees across a wide range of positions and agencies are in such a bind because the provincial finance department has refused to pay them salary advances totaling Rs45 billion.
Himayatullah Khan, the current Chief Minister’s Adviser on Finance, recognised the situation and the resulting displeasure when asked about the predicament of government employees across the province. “We have no control over this. Due to the severe financial difficulties the province administration is experiencing, salary credits would be delayed until May 1st, after Eid, Khan expressed sadness.
However, many government workers and their families have been demoralised by the government’s refusal to grant wage advancements. This has had a negative impact on the operations of clothes shops, who are angry about the extraordinary reduction in sales. Last year at this time, my business was so crowded that people were literally standing in the aisles. But there seems to be nobody around this time. Zakir Khan, a shopkeeper in Peshawar’s Meena Bazaar who specialises in clothing for children, expressed his confusion as to how he was supposed to make sales when so many of his staff had not been paid their pay.
