State staff may demand for 5th pay panel

SHILLONG: With the seventh Pay Commission recommending adequate salary hike for the Central government employees, there is a buzz among the state government employees on the need to have new pay package.
Though the employees have not made any official demand in this regard, a functionary of the Meghalaya State Government Employees Federation said that they will meet soon to discuss the matter.
“We want to discuss whether we should ask for a revised pay or the formation of the fifth Pay Commission”, the functionary said.
It was when DD Lapang was the Chief Minister that the  state cabinet  in 2009 announced an overall pay hike of 32 per cent for all its employees with retrospective effect from January 1, 2007 based on the recommendation of  the fourth pay commission headed by retired IAS official KK Sinha .
Though the employees who resorted to agitation demanded the implementation of pay with effect from 2006, the government did not pay heed to it.
The arrears were also provided to the employees in a few phases.
A senior state government employee said that there  should be constitution of new pay panel next year as it is mandatory to constitute the panel once in 10 years since the last panel’s recommendation was from 2007. Though the government had pointed out financial constraints after the ban on coal mining in state due to the revenue loss of over Rs 600 crore , recently the union minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha acknowledged about the sound financial position of the state.