True to the promise of chief minister Mamata Banerjee made barely nine days ago, the state cabinet today approved the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission with little hikes in several perks. Miss Banerjee earlier assured the state government employees about revised pay with effect from January next year. Soon after the cabinet meeting headed by Miss Banerjee, finance minister Mr Amit Mitra told reporters about the decision of the state government.

“Today, cabinet approved recommendations made by the Pay Commission for revised pay which will be effective from 1 January, 2020. Considering several aspects, the chief minister made changes with hikes in the revised pay,” Mitra said. “For example, as per the new pay, a state government employee who gets Rs 100, including the basic pay (BP) and grade pay (GP), will get an enhanced amount up to Rs 280.90,” the finance minister said. The finance minister clarified, “With merger of dearness allowance (DA) of 125 percent with the BP and GP, the new pay for the employee will be Rs 225. If you multiply this amount with 14.22 in addition to a notional increase of yearly three percent from 2016 to 2019, the employee who is getting Rs 100 will be entitled to receive Rs 280.90.”

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has also made some changes in upper limit gratuity amount, house rent allowance (HRA) and non-practicing allowance (NPA) for doctors associated with the state-run healthcare services and medical allowance recommended by the commission. With the proposal of Miss Banerjee, gratuity of an employee has been increased to Rs 12 lakh from the existing Rs 6 lakh. The commission had earlier recommended an amount of Rs 10 lakh. Upper limit in HRA will be Rs 12,000 per month from the existing amount Rs 6,000 while the commission restricted it to Rs 10,500.

The chief minister has also increased the NPA for government doctors. From now onwards, each doctor will get an NPA of Rs 2.10 lakh per year though the commission recommended Rs 1.90 lakh a year. On 13 September, while speaking at an organisational conference of state government employees at Netaji Indoor Stadium, Miss Banerjee said, “The more you will give to the government, the more you will be in position to draw from this government. The state government has accepted the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission.”