The retirement age of Punjab Government employees will be reduced to 58 years from 60 years currently, a move intended to offer more employment opportunities to young people.
The announcement in this regard was made by state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal while presenting a Rs 1.54 lakh crore budget for 2020-21 on Friday.
He said the number of employees who will be affected by this move was yet to worked out and that the decision will be implemented in two phases. "Those who have turned 59 will retire on March 31 this year and those who are 58 will retire from September 30," said Badal. He said at present, 3.50 lakh Government employees are working in the state departments.
He further announced six per cent dearness allowance arrears to the State Government employees from March this year and said it would involve financial implication of Rs 1,000 crore. The Government will also implement the 6th Pay Commission recommendations in 2020-21 and for this, a sum of Rs 4,000 crore has been earmarked in the Budget, he said.
Presenting the Budget, Badal announced debt waiver to landless farm labourers and added that a sum of Rs 520 crore has been set aside for the same. The budget also earmarked Rs 13,092 crore for the education sector and Rs 4,675 crore for the health sector.
