Senators demand raise in salaries, pensions.

ISLAMABAD -- Lawmakers on Wednesday called for giving more relief to the masses by providing increased salaries and pensions to government employees in the federal budget.

Initiated the debate on the federal budget, Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Javed Abbasi criticised the budget and said no relief had been given to the masses in it

He said it was the first time that no increase in salaries and pensions was given to the employees and pensioners.

He said tall claims were made by the PTI leadership before coming into power and it always criticised the past rulers for taking loans. Javed Abbasi claimed that record loans were obtained during the last two years.

JI Senator Mushtaq Ahmed said, 'Charter of Democracy' was the only solution for economic stability in the country.

He said the continuity in economic policies should be ensured and all stakeholders should sit together for `Charter of Democracy'.

He said less budget was allocated for the health sector despite the ongoing phase of Covid-19 and demanded more allocation for it.

Regarding tax collection, Javed Abbasi said the PPP doubled the tax collection revenue during its five years term while PML-N achieved revenue target of Rs 3,942 billion till 2018.

'However, the PTI government failed to achieve its revenue target set during the ongoing fiscal year,' he added.

Similarly, he called for allocating more funds to Balochistan in order to bring it par with other developed areas.

Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of JUI-F said several promises were made in past by PTI but no one was fulfilled. He said huge loans were obtained during a short period of two years while total outlay of current budget was reduced as compared to last year.

Sassui Palijo of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) also criticised the government for ignoring Sindh province in the budget. She said...