Punjab’s Retired Public Servants Deserve the Same Pension Increase Granted by the Federal Government @ Other Provinces, Says Yawar Mehdi.
Lahore (Yawar Mehdi)Patron-in-Chief of the Punjab Government Pensioners Association (PGPA), has urged the Government of Punjab to grant retired public servants their rightful pensionary relief, arguing that nearly 600,000 retired government employees are facing increasing financial hardship amid persistent inflation, the depreciation of the Pakistani rupee, and rapidly rising healthcare and household expenses.
In a statement issued following the observance of Muharram, Mehdi said that the economic realities confronting elderly pensioners require urgent policy attention. While salaries, allowances, official privileges, and state funded benefits for serving officeholders continue to expand, he said, retired government employees are repeatedly asked to exercise patience & accept fiscal constraints, despite having completed decades of public service.
Mehdi observed that certain administrative decisions have created an unnecessary perception of distance between the provincial government & its retired employees .
He argued that repeatedly attributing pension related decisions to International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions cannot serve as a sustainable long-term policy. Instead, he urged the government to formulate decisions based on Punjab’s own fiscal capacity, budgetary priorities, and constitutional responsibility toward retired public servants.
Referring to Pakistan’s economic performance over the past decade, Mehdi stated that although the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown significantly, the purchasing power of pensioners has steadily declined. Inflation, he said, has substantially eroded the real value of pensions, leaving recent adjustments insufficient to offset the escalating costs of medicines, utilities, and other essential household expenditures.
Illustrating the situation, Mehdi said that a Grade-17 officer, after completing approximately 37 years of government service, currently receives a monthly pension of about PKR 48,000 an amount he described as inadequate even for basic living expenses. Likewise, he noted that retired Grade-21-22 officers, who once held the province’s highest administrative responsibilities, now receive pensions of approximately PKR 150,000, which, under prevailing economic conditions, are increasingly insufficient to maintain a dignified standard of living.
Citing the Punjab Government’s officially approved budget documents, Mehdi pointed out that PKR 462.16 billion had been allocated for pensions during the 2025–26 fiscal year, while revised expenditures stood at PKR 452.16 billion, leaving nearly PKR 10 billion unutilized. He further noted that the provincial government has already approved a substantially higher pension allocation of PKR 500.10 billion for the 2026–27 fiscal year.
According to calculations prepared by the Punjab Government Pensioners Association, implementing a 7 percent pension increase for all retired government employees would require approximately PKR 31.65 billion, bringing total pension expenditure to around PKR 483.81 billion. Even after providing this increase, total spending would remain approximately PKR 16.29 billion below the pension allocation already approved by the Punjab Assembly, indicating that the proposed relief can be accommodated within the existing budget without exceeding authorized expenditures.
Mehdi emphasized that these calculations are derived entirely from the Punjab Government’s own published budget figures and invited independent verification by the Finance Department.
“The fiscal space already exists within the approved provincial budget,” Mehdi said. “This is no longer merely a budgetary issue; it is a question of economic justice, public responsibility, and human dignity. The men and women who devoted the most productive years of their lives to serving the people and institutions of Punjab deserve to live their retirement with dignity rather than financial uncertainty.”
Concluding his appeal, Mehdi respectfully called upon Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif to undertake a comprehensive personal review of the matter, direct the Finance Department to independently verify the budgetary calculations submitted by the Punjab Government Pensioners Association, and issue appropriate orders for the timely implementation of a fair pension increase. He expressed confidence that a compassionate and evidence-based decision would not only provide long-overdue relief to hundreds of thousands of retired public servants but also reaffirm the government’s commitment to fairness, fiscal responsibility, and respect for those who dedicated their careers to public service.
