In additional Rs 1500 Crore bonanza for government employees and pensioners, the Punjab government on Thursday decided to further hike their basic pay by a minimum of 15 per cent over and above the basic pay as on 31 December 2015, in addition to restoration of certain allowances.

With this, the total average increase in salary or pension per employee has gone up to Rs 1.05 lakh per annum, from the earlier Rs. 79,250 per annum that they were getting following the government’s decision to accept the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission with effect from 1 July, 2021, which had earlier led to a Rs 4700 Cror bonanza for the employees.

The decision on further hike was taken at today’s Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who directed all ministers, administrative secretaries and heads of departments to talk to their respective employees for early redressal of their grievances.

While all reasonable demands of the employees should be resolved following today’s announcements, the CM said strict action should be taken, as per rules, if the employees continue to agitate.

As many as 2.85 lakh employees and 3.07 lakh pensioners will benefit from today’s decisions, which will cost the government exchequer a total salary and pension bill of Rs 42673 Crore per annum.

Amarinder said all operational allowances have not only been retained but also doubled in absolute terms over what they were being paid earlier, with the cabinet decision to restore common allowances, such as fixed medical allowance, mobile allowance, conveyance allowance and city compensatory allowance at the revised rates (2.59 x 0.8), from 1 July 2021.

The Cabinet also approved treating of non-practicing allowance (NPA) admissible to doctors at the rate of 20 per cent of revised basic pay as pay, with secretariat pay for employees (working in Punjab Civil Secretariat) to be doubled and also to be treated as pay.

Further, employees covered under National Pension Scheme have now given cover under family pension in case of death-in-harness, with the adoption of Family Pension guidelines dated 5 May.2009 and subsequent linked instructions dated 4 September 2019 with suitable state government modifications in respect of employees covered under New Pension Scheme (NPS) as applicable to similarly placed employees in Government of India, as per the provisions under the Punjab Civil Services Rules- Volume II.