Government staff in Kashmir have welcomed the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations of an overall increase of 23 per cent in the salaries of Central and state government employees. They said it would improve the overall economic condition of people.
Abdul Qayoom Wani, Chairman of the Employees’ Joint Action Committee (EJAC), while welcoming the panel’s recommendations, said the hike was the right of employees for which they had been waiting for the last 10 years.
“This is a welcome step and it is the right of employees who have been waiting for it for the last 10 years. But we just want that it should be implemented in the state and at the Centre simultaneously,” said Wani.
Though the recommendations are yet to be implemented by the government, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the Centre will go through the recommendations first before approving them.
If the recommendations will be implemented, the government’s spending on employees’ payouts will raise by Rs 1.02 lakh crore. Of this, expenditure on salaries will go up by Rs 39,100 crore and allowances by Rs 29,300 crore and revised pensions Rs 33,700 crore.
“The implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission will also improve the economic condition of Jammu and Kashmir. They had faced a setback due to the floods last year, so it is appreciated if it is implemented soon,” said government employee Nazir Ahmad.
The recommendation report submitted by Seventh Pay Commission head AK Mathur has set Rs 18,000 as the minimum pay of an employee of the Central Government which is at present Rs 7,000.
“Even it has good news for those who joined recently — it has set the minimum pay scale. In the current times of rising prices, surviving on a meagre salary is very difficult for people,” said Shahid Khan.
If accepted, the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission are scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2016.
Employees hail 7th pay panel’s proposals
