Employees and pensioners of Himachal Pradesh government will have to wait for one to two years for the arrears to be received as per the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.

This was disclosed by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in a reply during the Question Hour of the Winter session of State Legislative Assembly on Saturday being held at Dharamshala in district Kangra.

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“More than Rs 10,000 crore has to be paid to employees and pensioners as arrears. It would take one to two years to bring the troubled economy back on track given by the previous government and only after that the arrears could be paid,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that the former BJP government implemented the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, but did not make any provision in the budget for it.

Earlier, in response to the original question of MLA Rajendra Rana, the Chief Minister said that the matter of giving revised pension as per the Sixth Pay Commission to the pensioner employees of Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats is under consideration of the government.

He said that the government as promised has restored the old pension as soon as it came to power and till now more than 500 pensioners have started getting the old pension.

In response to a question from Congress MLA Sanjay Rattan, the Chief Minister said that the state government has made efforts from time to time to fill the backlog of two per cent of the posts reserved for dependents of freedom fighters in various government departments, however the Staff Selection Commission had not been able to find candidates with suitable qualifications.

Due to this, till now there is a backlog of 536 posts of different categories in various departments, he added.

He said that the government will study the removal of reservation from the backlog and take a decision on it.

Responding to a question by BJP member Randhir Sharma, the Chief Minister said that during the tenure of the present government, an amount of more than Rs 4.30 crore has been spent till November 30 on repairs on the apartments of the Chief Minister and Ministers.

This amount also includes liabilities of Rs 2.50 crore from the previous government, he said, adding that these are routine expenses and also include the repair of the residence of the Leader of the Opposition and the residences of the MLAs.

Responding to a question asked by BJP member D S Thakur, the Chief Minister said that his government has increased the honorarium of employees even despite the financial crunch.

As soon as the state government emerges from the economic crisis, it will also increase the honorarium of Special Police Officers (SPOs), he added.

The state government had even written a letter to the Central Government to increase the honorarium of SPOs, but this demand was rejected by the Centre, he informed the House.

He said that he would be on a three-day visit to Delhi from January 3 and is scheduled to meet the Home Minister Amit Shah and will effectively raise the issue of increasing the salary of SPOs.

Speaking on this issue, BJP MLA Hansraj said that he has discussed this matter with Advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office, Tarun Kapoor and he has asked to write a letter on behalf of the state government to increase the honorarium of all 526 SPOs so that the PMO can take further action on it.