Implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission’s (SPC) recommendations would entail a whopping Rs6,000-crore annual burden on the Odisha Government.
While the Union Government is yet to implement the SPC report, time for it is not far, feel State Government officials as the recommendations would be accepted by the Centre soon.
And the burden is set to rise by another Rs4,000 crore if vacant posts in various departments are filled, said official sources.
In 2014-15, the annual expenditure towards the State Government’s employees’ salary and pension was Rs17,201.52 crore and Rs7,810.58 crore, respectively. The allocation towards the salary and pension was raised to Rs18,364.60 crore and Rs8,593.20 crore, respectively, for the 2015-16 fiscal.
While the Government had spent Rs4,704 crore towards salary and pension in 2000-01, the expenditure was increased to Rs19,906 crore during 2010-11.
Rs32,341.68 crore was spent towards salary and pension during 2014-15. The expenditure is expected to be Rs35,214.50 crore in 2015-16, sources said.
As per the SPC recommendations, the expenditure towards salary and pension is expected to rise by 25 per cent.
Although an announcement has not been made officially regarding implementation of the SPC recommendations benefiting Central Government employees and pension holders, allocation has been made accordingly in the Union Budget.
Notably, the Centre had implemented the sixth Pay Commission report in 2006. The Odisha government too hiked the employees’ salary and pension by implementing the ORSP rule in 2008.
As per official data, around 45,000 posts have been abolished in the past 15 years in Odisha, and 1.65 lakh posts were lying vacant till 2014. The Chief Minister has been reviewing the status of filling up of posts in the last week of every month.
If around two lakh posts are filled in various departments, the another annual expenditure of Rs4,000 crore would be made from the State exchequer, said sources in the Finance Department.