A month after the Himachal government faced vehement protests from employees over reversal of the Old Pension Scheme, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, eyeing electoral gains, tried to assuage them by announcing benefits on Sunday.
He made these announcements during the Karamchari Maha Sammelan of the Himachal Pradesh Non-Gazetted Employees Federation at Hotel Peterhoff here on Sunday.
The CM’s announcement comes a month after the employees staged a protest outside the Vidhan Sabha and a case was registered against 43 staffers for unlawful assembly. Congress has already announced that if voted back to power, they will restore the Old Pension Scheme.
Jai Ram announced that state government employees who completed two years of regular service before January 3, 2022, and could not get the benefit of a higher pay scale, will be given a higher scale at par with other employees. He also announced a higher pay scale to junior office assistants (IT) on completion of two years of service.
“Employees have always played an important role in the execution of policies and schemes of the government at the ground level. The state has always prioritised ensuring the welfare of its employees and maintained cordial relations with them. We have ensured that different categories of employees get due benefits and better facilities, ” the CM said.
{{/usCountry}}“Employees have always played an important role in the execution of policies and schemes of the government at the ground level. The state has always prioritised ensuring the welfare of its employees and maintained cordial relations with them. We have ensured that different categories of employees get due benefits and better facilities, ” the CM said.
{{/usCountry}}He said that despite the Covid-19 crisis lasting for almost two years, the state government ensured that its employees did not face any inconvenience and they were given full salary, pension and other benefits. “Government employees in the state have been given revised pay scales and on average, all of them have got 12 to 15% salary hike. There has also been an increase in pension of about 1.5 lakh beneficiaries of the state. Financial benefits of ₹7,801 crore have been given to state government employees and pensioners between 2018 and 2022. Pensioners who retired before 2016 are getting the benefit of a 15 to 20% increase in pension while around 40,000 pensioners who retired after 2016 will receive benefits soon,” the CM added.
He said daily wages were ₹210 in 2017, which has been increased by the present state government to ₹350. Similarly, 12% interim relief annually has been provided to government employees and pensioners during the present government’s tenure. “The Punjab government has given only 5% interim relief to the employees, while HP has provided 21%.Out of the total interim relief amount given to the employees and pensioners amounting to about ₹6,500 crore, ₹3,500 crore has been paid during the tenure of our government,” added Jai Ram. He added that the Himachal government has provided dearness allowance to its employees and pensioners on the lines of Punjab and central governments from the due date.
He said that the state government has increased the government contribution for NPS employees from 10 to 14%, benefitting more than one lakh employees. The NPS employees are being given the benefits of retirement and death gratuity at par with employees falling under the old pension scheme. The government has also increased the upper limit of death gratuity from ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh, he said.