Bengal seal on pay hike The commission has recommended a 2.57 times hike in basic salary

“The chief minister has announced more benefits than those recommended by the Sixth Pay commission. The new pay structure would come to effect from January 1, 2020. A sum of about Rs 10,000 crore would be required to implement the new pay structure,” said Amit Mitra. A Telegraph pictureAdd caption

TT, 24 September 2019, Calcutta: The Mamata Banerjee cabinet on Monday accepted the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission and said it would be implemented from January 1, 2020, and announced additional benefits for state employees.

“The chief minister has announced more benefits than those recommended by the Sixth Pay commission. The new pay structure would come into effect from January 1, 2020. A sum of about Rs 10,000 crore would be required to implement the new pay structure,” Amit Mitra, the state finance minister, said after the cabinet meeting.

The commission has recommended a 2.57 times hike in basic salary.

The minister said the state government has decided to give annual increments of 3 per cent of the basic pay since January 1, 2016 — the date is important as the Centre and many other states implemented their new pay structures in that year — even though the new scale would be implemented from January next year.

Bengal employees have cited the 2016 precedent and demanded arrears but the government was silent on the issue on Monday.

“As the benefits of annual increment are being calculated from January 1, 2016, the basic salary will be hiked significantly. If an employee has a basic pay of Rs 100, his basic salary would be Rs 280.90 in the new pay scale,” said Mitra.

Sources said an employee gets Rs 225 now if the basic salary is Rs 100, as the 125 per cent DA is over and above the basic salary. Once the new salary structure is implemented, there will be no dearness allowance immediately as the DA would be calculated afresh based on consumer price index once the revised salaries take effect.

“The state has accepted the recommendation, which takes the basic salary of Rs 100 to Rs 257 and added 3 per cent annual increment in basic salary for the past three years, taking the basic salary to Rs 280.90,” said a finance department official.

The employees had been demanding the new structure from January 2016, like in the central government and other states. Sources said that would have cost an additional Rs 30,000 crore annually. Asked about the arrears, Mitra said: “I can say what the cabinet decided today.”