Ahead of the Assembly elections in the State, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday showered bonanza on the employees of the State Government, announcing to give House Rent Allowance (HRA) to state government employees as per the recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission.
The revised HRA would be implemented with effect from August 1, 2019 and it would benefit about 3.50 lakh employees. This decision would put an additional expenditure of Rs 1,900 crore on the state exchequer.
Earlier, he held a meeting with the representatives of employees and trade unions--Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh, Sarva Karamchari Sangh, Rajya Karamchari Sangh and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh. The meeting lasted for over six hours and the trade unions expressed happiness saying that probably it was the first time when any Chief Minister invited the different employees and trade unions on a single platform to consider their demands.
Addressing a news conference here,Khattar also announced to revive the ex-gratia policy for the dependents of the deceased employees that had been discontinued since 1996. He said that the new policy would be implemented with effect from August 1, 2019. The deceased employees, whose age is 52 years or less or has completed more than 5 years of service before this, would be covered under this scheme.
He said that the dependents of the deceased employee would be given two options either to get salary of the remaining period of service or get a government job of Group C and D category for that period as per the qualification provided that none of the family member is in the government service. Those who have not yet get the financial benefit after the death of the employee can still opt for the option of the government job, he added.
Giving a relief to the women employees working on contract basis, he announced that facility of six months maternity leave would also be given to those women employees who are engaged under the outsourcing policy Part I of the state government. He said that the financial burden on the contractor on account of this facility would be borne by the state government.
The chief minister also announced that now cashless medical facility would be made available to the government employees for all indoor diseases instead of seven diseases earlier. He announced that all the Safai Karamcharis working in urban and rural areas of the State would also get the benefit of risk insurance of Rs 10 lakh. The premium for the same would be paid by the state government. He said that apart from this, employees of other departments who are engaged in the risk work namely firemen, linemen, assistant linemen; sewermen and boiler attendant would also be covered under this insurance policy.
Khattar said that a decision has also been taken to re-open the channel of promotion for the employees of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) in the central cooperative banks. He said that a committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary, Finance to remove the pay anomalies of tubewell operators of Public Health Engineering Department working on contractual basis.
Khattar said that 867 new buses would be added to the fleet of Haryana Roadways. Tendering process for 367 buses has been completed, whereas tender for 500 additional buses would be floated soon.
Referring to various pro-employees decisions taken by the state government so far, the Chief Minister said that Haryana is the first state in the country to give the benefit of recommendations of 7th Pay Commission to its employees. There are many states which have not yet given the benefit of the 7th Pay Commission to its employees. Apart from this, Haryana is the first state who has implemented the decision of equal work and equal pay on November 31,2017.
He said the state government has also regularized the services of guest teachers by way of enacting an Act. He said that with a view to ensure that employees engaged through outsourcing policy get their salaries on time without any delay, all the Deputy Commissioners in the state have been provided a contingency fund of Rs 1 crore. Similarly, the state government has also enhanced the monthly honorarium of Chowkidar from Rs 3,500 to Rs 7,500. The honorarium of Safari Karamcharis in rural areas has been enhanced to Rs 11,000 and to Rs 13,500 in urban areas.
To a question regarding any possibility of giving pay scale to Haryana Government employees on the pattern of Punjab Government, Khattar said Haryana is way ahead of its neighbouring state in terms of many financial parameters.
Chief Secretary, Keshni Anand Arora, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Rajesh Khullar, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, TVSN Prasad, Director General, Information, Public Relations and Languages, Sameer Pal Srow and other senior officers of various other departments were present on the occasion.
