SHILLONG: The state government employees got an early Christmas greeting when the Cabinet on Friday approved the revised pay that will be effective from January 1, 2017.
The employees will receive the new pay with an overall hike of 268 percent from next month.
Announcing this after the four-hour Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said that with the massive jump in salary, the D-category employees whose basic salary was Rs 6,500 will now get Rs 17,400, besides an annual increment of 3 per cent.
With this revision, the pay of the head of a department, which was Rs 31,300, has now been increased to Rs 83,900. For the level 12 employees whose salary was Rs 14,700, it has been increased to Rs 39,400.
The government has also increased winter allowance from Rs 400 to Rs 600, hills allowance from Rs 300 to Rs 500 and medical allowance from Rs 700 to Rs 1,000 per month. House rent allowance in urban areas has been increased from Rs 4,000 to Rs 8,000, in district headquarters from Rs 3000 to Rs 6000 and in other areas from Rs 2500 to Rs 5000.
The chief minister said that the state will follow the central government pattern as far as daily allowance is concerned.
Each employee will also get Rs 2,000 annually for medical checkup.
While maternity leave has been increased from 120 days to 180 days, the government has decided to introduce paternity leave of 15 days.
Sangma said employees would also be entitled to arrears.
With this, the additional burden on the state exchequer in this current fiscal year will be Rs 929 crore, including the 40 per cent of the total payable arrears and pensions.
The remaining 60 per cent arrears will be paid in two tranches – 30 per cent in 2018-19 and the rest in 2019-20.
The number of promotions in an employee’s service life has been increased to three from the existing two. Now, he or she will get progression in the 10th, 20th and the 30th years of service.
“The new pay revisions will be able to take good care of the requirements of increased cost of living and we expect more productivity and commitment from the employees,” Sangma said.
