The Odisha Government has decided to pay salary to its employees as per the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission from September 1, 2017.
Announcing the decision here on Tuesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the decision will benefit 4.5 lakh serving State Government employees and 3.5 lakh pensioners.
Implementation of the enhanced pay scales for employees will impose an additional burden of `4500 crore per annum on the State exchequer. As the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations will be implemented with retrospective effect from January 1, 2016, the total arrear will be `7500 crore.
As a puja gift, the employees will get enhanced salary for September on September 26 as the holidays start from September 27. Official sources said the lowest salary at entry level of band one will be around `18,000, which will be around 100 per cent hike.
The Chief Minister said, “The State Government has decided to implement the recommendations of the committee constituted for examination of 7th Pay Commission report and its adoption for the State Government employees.” He said arrear payment is being worked out. The fitment committee was headed by development commissioner R Balakrishnan. However, in view of the tight financial situation as portrayed by the State Government, it is yet to be decided how to pay the arrear amount.
The report was finalised after considering representations from employees’ associations and other stakeholders. Sources said the financial condition of the Government is going to improve after the solution of the tax dispute with the Indian Oil Corporation Limited. As per the new arrangement, the State
Government is likely to get `1500 crore per annum from the IOCL’s Paradip refinery even though it will have to provide only `700 crore interest free loan to the corporation. Hectic activities in both BJD and BJP camps and the sudden announcement of implementation of the seventh Pay Commission recommendations by the Chief Minister has led political observers to speculate about early polls to the State Assembly.
