MANDI BAHAUDDIN
General people here gave mixed reaction to the Federal Budget 2013-14 while the business community termed it a balanced one with a hope that it would stabilise national economy and benefit all the segments of the society.
Labourers' leaders, however, expressed their reservations. Jan Muhammad, a leader of brick kiln labourers, criticized the budget for not increasing daily wagers' minimum pay. He said inflation had already made lives of the labours difficult and the increase in GST would further burden them. Farmers did not express their reaction against the budget. May be they do not understand the impact which the budget would pass on to them after implementation.
Pensioners appreciated the budget for increasing their pension 10%. Subedar Major (r) Bashir, who is local leader of ex-servicemen, said that the government made paltry increase in pensions and it did not considered wide gap in pension of old and new pensioners and treated them with the same scale. He said pension of old pensioners should have been increased about 35% to bring parity in the pension.
Muhammad Azam Rawn, a leader of PML-N, defended the budget and said protest of clerks and other government employees was not justified. He further blamed the government employees for destroying the national institutions for their corrupt practices.