GUWAHATI: Assam Assembly on Friday passed a first of its kind Bill that has made it mandatory for Asaj government employees to look after their aged and dependent parent/s and physically challenged siblings, if any, who don’t have their own source of income.
The Assam Employees Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring (PRANAM) Bill, 2017 which has been passed in the House unanimously has made it compulsory for the state government employees to take care of their dependent parents and disabled siblings sans any income source with immediate effect.
In case of violation of provisions of the Bill or if any state government employee is found to ignore his/her responsibility to look after his dependent parent/s or disabled sibling/s, 15 per cent of the employee’s monthly salary will be deducted at source and deposited to the bank account of aggrieves parent/s or disabled sibling/s in case the aggrieved party lodge a complaint with the authority of the department where the employee is employed.
Claiming that a Bill like PRANAM has been passed and put into force in Assam for the first time among all the states in the country, Assam’s Finance Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the Bill was brought with the objective that no aged and dependent parent/s of the state government employees are compelled to live the last days of their life in old-age home because of negligence of their wards who are state government employees.
The minister claimed that the Bill was conceptualized in the wake of harsh reality in the society in the state that there have been rising instances of aged and dependent parents are being left unattended and uncared for by their wards. He also said that the Bill reflected the state government’s concern for the wellbeing of disabled persons who have no source of income of their own.