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Punjab cuts cellphone allowance by 50%, faces flak from staff
The new mobile phone allowance package will be implemented from August 1.
The Punjab government has slashed the mobile phone allowance of its employees by up to 50%. The cut is admissible to state government employees of all groups.
The decision, however, has invited flak from the employees, who have termed it a financial attack on them during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The new mobile phone allowance package will be implemented from August 1, stated a notification issued by finance department deputy secretary Sangita.
As per the amendment, the said monthly allowance has been fixed at ₹250 for group A employees, ₹175 for group B, ₹150 for groups C and D staff.
Earlier, group A employees were entitled to ₹500, group B to ₹300, groups C and D to ₹250 per month.
Democratic employees’ federation district president Parween Sharma said, “This is a financial attack by the state government on employees’ pockets. We are already spending large amounts on mobile bills from our own pockets to upload data entries.”
“The finance department is seeing our cellphone allowance as a burden, but no such cuts have been announced for MLAs or ministers,” said Vikram Dev, a government teachers’ union leader.
Meanwhile, SAD treasurer and spokesperson NK Sharma criticised the government for reducing the mobile phone allowance of its employees, terming it an attempt to fill the state’s empty coffers. The SAD-BJP government had started the allowance in 2011, but the Congress reduced it for all categories of employees, he added.
