The new salary structure will come into effect from January 1.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today announced an increase in pay for government jobs, in accordance with the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations. The minimum basic salary for state government employees has now been increased to Rs 17,990, effective from the first month of the following year.
The new salary structure will come into effect from January 1, 2020.
1. Increased minimum basic salary
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The Chief Minister at an event organised at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Strand Road today said, "I have received the first part of the Sixth Pay Commission's report. I have decided to accept the commission's recommendations. I am not an expert in economics."
Earlier the basic pay was Rs 100, combined with the Dearness Allowance (DA) the amount would be brought to Rs 125. Elaborating on the guidelines laid by the Pay Commission, the Chief Minister said that after the merger the new combined pay would amount to Rs 257. The minimum basic salary was Rs 7000. It has been raised to Rs 17,990.
2. New salary structure from January 1
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"Besides all of these, I'll take care of the HRO and the House Rent," she said, adding that her government will not reduce the pay as going by all of the recommendations will cost more than Rs 10,000 crores, assuring that the Pay Commission will be adhered to and the West Bengal government will not reduce pay
CM Mamata Banerjee said that the new salary structure will come into effect from January 1, 2020.
3. Move to win over state government employees
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State government emplotyees lauded the Chief Minister's announcement and approved of the good news of an increase in salary.
Banerjee reminded everyone present there that every year the government tries to hike the salary allocated to government jobs and asked the attendees to have faith in the government.
Political commentators have interpreted this move as an attempt to win over the government staff who had been harbouring discontent against the ruling Trinamool Congress government for a while.
4. Resentment of government staff apparent during poll results
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Amid a saffron surge in West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress, led by its chief Mamata Banerjee, may have kept itself afloat in the overall tally by winning 22 of the state's 42 seats in the Lok Sabha polls this year, but it was trailing in the postal ballot section where the party's calculations went haywire.
This came off as alarming for the ruling party because the state government employee's votes formed a major part of the overall postal votes in each constituency.
It, therefore, represented a long-time resentment in government staff over the Banerjee regime's reluctance in accepting the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations and hiking their salary.
The gap in DA between Central and state government employees had kept on increasing at an alarming rate.
The Sixth Pay Commission was formed in November of 2015 and had recommended a revised salary scale.
