Bonanza for West Bengal Govt Employees – Mamata Announces new Pay Commission

Mamata Announces new Pay Commission, Experts point out that  the 10 per cent hike would reduce the difference in DA for state employees compared to their central counterparts to 44 per cent.

WB chief minister Mamata Banerjee in a convention of the TMC based employees’ union, ‘West Bengal State Government Employees Federation’ at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata, announced a bonanza for state government employees including a new pay commission and a 10 per cent dearness allowance hike ahead of the Assembly elections next year. “We will form the 6th Pay Commission which will work from January 1, 2016, till December 31, 2025,” she said.

Banerjee announced a 10 per cent hike in dearness allowance for the state employees from January next, two days after the Central government announced a six per cent hike in DA for its employees. The Chief Minister also said that a Group of Ministers, headed by Finance Minister Amit Mitra, will be formed to look into the needs of the government employees.

Experts point out that the 10 per cent hike would reduce the difference in DA for state employees compared to their central counterparts to 44 per cent.

She also said that the government has decided to widen the benefit of home travel concession for state government employees. “While traveling inside the state, you will get benefit of home travel concession every five years. Govt employees will also get Leave Travel Concession (LTC) every ten years. Using the LTC you can travel anywhere in India and in few foreign countries including Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka,” she said. Banerjee also said that the state government employees who joined their offices on strike-day would get extra compensatory leave. However, those who do not attend office would face a pay cut for that day.

It is worth reminding here that the West Bengal Government Employees till now enjoyed only one LTC in their whole work life.

The West Bengal State is due for election next year, the time of announcement has caught the opposition by surprise and prompting them to cry that the announcements violated model code of conduct since the elections have been announced in certain municipalities.

All in all, if we keep the political games aside, the West Bengal State Government Employees definitely have a reason to celebrate.

Source: The Economic Times