Govt. workers want DA to be merged with salary.
Government employees have asked the Centre to consider merging dearness
allowance with their pay, arguing that the Sixth Pay Commission -- quite
like the Centre -- could not have anticipated the high inflation that
has eroded real wages over the last decade.
Since 2006 – when the recommendations of the last pay commission came
into force – the dearness allowance has increased to 90%, a reflection
of the high inflation environment that employees have to cope up with.
The demand was made at a preliminary meeting held between the department
of personnel and the employee representatives to discuss the proposed
Seventh Pay Commission announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in
September.
Congress media department chief Ajay Maken had asked the Prime Minister
to announce the next pay commission in March this year. Writing in his
capacity as a cabinet minister, Maken had also argued for a liberal
increase in the salaries of government officials to attract and retain
talent.
Representatives of government employees weren’t as optimistic.
Umraomal Purohit, secretary, staff side, however, did stress on the
merger of dearness allowance (DA) with the basic pay. Purohit said that
the sixth pay commission did not recommend merger as they could not have
anticipated a high rate of inflation which resulted in employees being
granted a 90% rate of DA.
Purohit and other representatives also emphasised that a system should
be put in place to ensure that anomalies created due to recommendations
of pay commissions should be resolved within a year of the
implementation of the report.
Government sources said the pay commission could be notified over the
next two months or so, well before the model code of conduct for the
general elections kicks in. Also, the Centre is expected to give the
panel enough time to prepare its report in the hope that the government
would be a lot more comfortable vis-a-vis the fiscal deficit by the time
the panel submits its report.
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