Chief Minister Shri Virbhadra Singh while presiding over the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) meeting of State Employees Federation here today announced seven percent dearness allowance to the employees of the State government. He also announced enhancing the income limit to Rs. 1.50 lakh from the present Rs. 1.25 lakh for granting jobs on compassionate grounds. The enhanced dearness allowance will be due from July 2014 and arrears will be deposited in the provident fund of employees upto March, 2015. This would put an extra burden of Rs 300 crore on the State exchequer, said the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister said that the demands of the employees of the Rogi Kalyan Samitis would be considered sympathetically. “I always wished a single body of NGOs in the State and the efforts bore fruit as my only motive is to have a single employee body.” said he. Though it was tough task, but at last the maxim ‘all well that ends well’ proved to be justified and the State employees had come under the canopy of single employee federation, said the Chief Minister. It was necessary to have an elected employees body in a democratic set up in the government sector similarly as trade unions in private set ups to take up the grievances and genuine demands of the employees with the Government from time to time, said he. He said that the previous State government adopted the policy of ‘divide and rule’ and divided the NGO body in several separate units which proved detrimental for the employees, said the Chief Minister. He said that Shri Prem Kumar Dhumal, sensing my active entry in the State politics, announced sops in haste for the employees few months before the assembly elections without pondering that it would put an extra burden of Rs 1300 crore over the State treasury, as a result of which the present state government, when took over had empty coffers. The State Government only follows the Punjab Pay Commission in respect of the financial benefits to the employees and not the announcements made by cabinet sub-committees or any other boards and corporations formed by the Punjab government to lure its employees during elections, thus the employees should understand the same he added. Shri Virbhadra Singh said the previous government could not present its case properly before the 13th Finance Commission and as a result, the Commission grossly underestimated the committed liabilities of the State. The 13th Finance Commission had not even given an equal treatment to the State despite the fact that preferential treatment to a Special Category State like Himachal Pradesh was required to be given, asserted the Chief Minister. He expressed hope that the 14th Finance Commission will look into the financial aspects of the State considerately. He said the State Government had always been considerate towards the demands of the employees despite financial constraints and had always been fulfilling their genuine demands. The State government was committed to regularize the daily wagers in a phased manner and those who had completed seven years as daily wagers were being regularized. Similarly, the contractual employees completing six years in service were also being considered for regularization. The Chief Minister said that the wages of the daily wagers had been enhanced from Rs 150 to Rs.170. The winter allowance for the employees in the tribal areas had already been enhanced from Rs 200 to Rs. 300 per month and similarly many sops had been announced for the employees during the past two years. The Chief Minister said as many as 716 persons were given jobs on compassionate ground from January 2013 to December 2014. He urged the employees for same co-operation they had been extending since last two years to the Government and assured them that all the genuine demands of the employees would be considered sympathetically. Earlier, Sh S.S. Jogta, President HP State NGOs Federation, welcomed and honoured the Chief Minister and also placed few demands apart from those in the meeting agenda. He thanked the Chief Minister for considering the demands of the employees and extending them the financial benefits from time to time. He also thanked for announcing the DA for the employees. Shri S.K.B.S. Negi, Principal Secretary (Personnel) conducted the proceedings of the meeting. Chief Secretary Sh P Mitra, Additional Chief Secretaries, Sh V.C. Pharka, Sh. Tarun Shridhar and Sh PC Dhiman, Principal Secretaries, head of departments, Sh. Gopal Sharma, General Secretary of the HP State NGOs Federation, other NGOs leaders from districts were also present on the occasion amongst others .himachal Pradesh.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 10:23:12 +0000
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