RENTAL CEILING FOR HIRING
AND DEMAND OF HOUSE RENT ALLOWANCE INCREASE
I was reading the summary for the increase in Rental Ceiling for
Hiring 2021 and really happy to see the issue resolved for many employees. It
is a good step of the Prime Minister of Pakistan if he accepts the summary for
the 44% increasing in hiring. This is the need for time to enhance the rental
ceiling of hiring for the employees in specific cities. As it is fact that due
to hike in the dearness, the owners of the houses have raised the rates of
their houses/flats. Many of the employees have to pay extra rather than get the
hiring amount.
Rental Ceiling for Hiring and House Rent Allowance
The employees residing in the following cities are getting a
Rental Ceiling of Hiring:
Lahore
Karachi
Islamabad/Rawalpindi
Karachi
Quetta
Peshawar
As I already mentioned it would be a good step if the honorable PM
approves the summary of the same. But there is another important point that is
considerable. A number of employees in the country are living in rented
houses/flats that are not getting any type of Hiring; instead, they are getting
only House Rent Allowance (HRA). Even in the specific cities i.e Islamabad,
Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, and Karachi a number of employees are
getting HRA. The rent they pay to the owners of houses has also been increased manifold.
The employees are getting House Rent Allowance on the initial of Revised Pay Scales 2008 plus a 50% increase. After 2008 pay scales were revised many times but HRA remained fixed on the initial of the pay scales 2008. The last time Government issued the Notification of Revised Pay Scales 2017. Later in 2018 Government granted a 50% increase in HRA.
ISSUES OF THE EMPLOYEES GETTING HRA
In these cities, if an employee of BPS-14 will get Hiring of Rs.23554/- the same scale employee will get only Rs. 3321/-. That is a huge
difference of about 20,000/- while both employees pay rent at the same amount.
This is the main point that the Hon'ble PM should consider to create
equality among the employees. The employee who is getting House Rent Allowance
is paying rent from other sources or cutting his/her expenses. He/She has to
work extra after duty time to meet his/her rent of the house. In this way, the
life of such employees is very hard and he/she always struggles hard not only
for the amount of rent but also other utilities.
REQUEST FOR INCREASE IN HRA
Keeping in view the above facts, all the employees of Pakistan
request to equally increase Hiring as well as House Rent Allowance for all the
employees of Pakistan. In this way, the employees of all areas of the country
will get equal opportunities for the rent. They will easily manage the rents of
their houses. in 2018 the previous Government also increased not only hiring
rates but also HRA @ 50% for all employees. In this regard Notification of
House Rent Allowance 2018 Federal Government as well as provincial Governments
issued.
