Pay pangs for Bengal officials - State panel seems a long way from submitting suggestions

TT, Calcutta, June 29: The sixth pay commission set up by the Bengal government in November 2015 has not discussed the possibility of a salary hike in the four meetings it has held, finance department sources said today.

The Centre today implemented many of the recommendations of the seventh pay commission, raising the salaries and pensions of central government employees by at least 14.29 per cent.

"Although the Centre today decided to implement many of the recommendations of the seventh pay commission, the state government's pay panel seems unlikely to submit its suggestions in the next one year or so," a senior official said.

It is not mandatory for a state to revise the salaries of its employees if the Centre does so for its staff. However, it is a custom that states revise salaries every 10 years, like the Centre.

"In Bengal, the recommendations of the fifth pay commission had been implemented in 2006. So it was expected that the sixth one would submit its report by early 2016 and the state government would implement its recommendations this year itself. But it appears we will have to wait for at least one more year for our salaries to be revised," a Bengal government official said.

A member of the sixth pay commission told this newspaper that the panel was not in a position to start work as it lacked proper infrastructure, including manpower. "It appears that another 12 to 18 months will be required to frame the recommendations," the member said.

Soon after the Centre announced that it had accepted many suggestions of the seventh pay panel, Bengal government employees began discussing the benefits their central counterparts would get.

State government employees are said to be unhappy at the central staff getting 50 per cent more dearness allowance than them. The central salary hike is being seen as a double whammy, sources in the state government said.

"We are being deprived in two ways. First, we are getting much less DA than central government employees. Government employees in many states, such as Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra, get DA on a par with the central staff. Second, we will be deprived of a salary hike anytime soon as the sixth pay commission seems unlikely to submit its recommendations in the next one year," a land department official said.

Central government employees get 125 per cent of their basic salaries as DA, while the Bengal staff receive 75 per cent.

After assuming office for the second time, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the state government would give an interim relief to its employees from July. The relief works out to 10 per cent of the band pay (a component of the basic salary).

After it appeared that the central pay hike had rubbed salt in the state employees' wound, Opposition staff unions swung into action this afternoon.

All 35 Opposition employees' unions held a meeting to decide on the course of action.

"We have set up a joint forum and will jointly fight for the cause of the state government employees. We might organise a strike on September 2 demanding more DA and the enforcement of the sixth pay commission," said Manoj Guha, the general secretary of the CPM-backed Coordination Committee.

The Trinamul-led employees' union, Paschim Banga Rajya Sarkari Karmachari Federation,which has the maximum number of members, was on the defensive today.

"We hope the state government will consider the demands of the employees seriously. But we have to keep in mind that the state is passing through a financial crisis," a leader of the union said.