Pre-poll bonanza for Karnataka govt employees, Siddaramaiah to announce 24-30% pay hike in Budget

The Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka plans to announce a 24-30% pay hike for its 6.2 lakh employees and pensioners in the upcoming budget in February, just months before the Assembly polls. 

The Congress government is also likely to introduce additional holiday on alternate Saturdays in government offices, a Times of India report said. 

The move is in response to years-old demand for a five-day week and a pay scale on par with that for central government employees. But a likely announcement just ahead of the Assembly poll is also being seen as an attempt to woo the employees before the crucial elections. 

Currently, Karnataka government employees have a six-day week with an additional off every second Saturday of the month. They are now likely to get a holiday on fourth Saturday as well. 

"To ensure this does not lead to a decrease in work hours, the government is toying with the idea of extending office hours on the first and third Saturdays," a senior official of the state department of personnel and administrative services (DPAR) said. 

In the last budget, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced a committee headed by retired IAS officer M R Srinivasa Murthy to recommend the increase in salaries and pensions for state employees. 
 
"Murthy said the committee is in the process of finalising the report and will submit it before the January 31 deadline.

The government is planning a hike of 24-30% in salaries, lower than the 30-35% increase the employee associations had demanded. 

The move is estimated to cost the exchequer Rs 10,800 crore. 

Five years ago, ahead of the last Assembly polls, the then chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda of the BJP had announced a pay hike of 22%.

A senior minister indicated that the Congress government would not offer less than what the previous regime had. 

"We cannot afford to offer anything less than what BJP offered," the minister said.