7th Pay Commission: Congress punches holes in pay hike, calls it 'lowest in 7 decades'

The Congress dismissed the pay hike for Central government employees, terming it lopsided and inadequate in these times of runaway inflation and all round increase in prices.

Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjiwala said that the hike in salaries and allowances is mere 15% on basic pay and not 23.5% as is being wrongly claimed by the present government, terming the hike the lowest in the last seven decades.

“This gets even more stark when compared to the fact that 6th Pay Commission had recommended a 20% hike in salaries and allowances but the then Congress government doubled it to 40%. 7th Pay Commission recommended a hike of 14.29% and Modi government merely raised it to a pittance of 15%,” he said.

Even the ratio between the lowest and the highest salary has increased instead of the gap being narrowed, he said. Naturally, employees at the lower rung of the salary will suffer the most, Surjiwala asserted.

He further said that while the highest salary has increased from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2,50,000, the lowest salary has been increased from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 only. While the earlier ratio between the two was 1:12, it has now to 1:14.

The Congress Party has always stood with the workers who make India great, be they in the government sector or be they farmers or rural labourers, he claimed. "7th Pay Commission implementation establishes the mal-intent and lack of sincerity of Modi government", he added.