Panel to submit pay proposals by July end

SHILLONG: The Fifth State Pay Commission has completed its hearing and it is likely to submit its report by July end. Last July, the Cabinet had approved the fifth State pay commission and it was notified in August giving one year’s time for the panel to complete its exercise.
The chairman of the commission, P.J Bazeley, said on Saturday that the deadline for the commission to complete the task is July 31. “We will complete the task within the stipulated time,” the chairman said.
The Commission had completed its hearing with individuals, departments, employees’ organisations and heads of various directorates. The panel also interacted with district officials. The commission comprising the chairman and two members, former NEC secretary Uttam K. Sangma and former Education official Lambha Roy, had also visited a few states, including Mizoram, Tripura, Gujarat and Kerala for a comparative study. An official source said the next step of the commission is to write the report and submit it to the Government. Earlier, during the last revision of pay with effect from January 1, 2007, the Cabinet had approved pay hike of 32 per cent for all its employees.
The number of Government employees in the state is around 90,000, which includes teachers of deficit schools and colleges.
Besides, there are over 20,000 pensioners and the State Government will have an additional burden of at least Rs 100 crore per year if the commission recommends pay hike between 20 and 25 per cent.
Currently, the State Government is incurring an expenditure of around Rs 400 crore for the salaries of the employees annually.
The seventh central pay commission had recommended 23 per cent hike in salaries of central government employees. The state panel will also look into the central pay commission recommendations.