State govt to bear salary increase burden - Rs 3000-6000 hike in casual employees’ pay

Darjeeling, June 9,TT: DGHC casual employees have been given job security till they attain the age of 60, along with enhancement of salaries.

But they will be not treated on a par with regular government employees in terms of other benefits like house rent allowance and pension, according to the agreement reached between the state government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on June 7.

The agreement says the casual employees will be allowed to continue in their jobs till they reach 60 and those who have completed 10 years of regular service with a minimum attendance of 240 days a year will be included in pay band (PB).

The finance department issued an order on April 23, 2010, introducing the pay band for employees across the state. “An employee will get a certain amount depending on his grade and position under the pay band every month, apart from the basic salary, under the pay band,” said a government official involved in finance-related work.

According to the June 7 deal, the minimum pay band in which a Group D DGHC worker will be included is PB I. This means that a Group D worker, who has completed ten years of service at the DGHC and draws Rs 3,500 a month, will receive a minimum salary of not less that Rs 6,600. Similarly, a rough estimate shows that Group C and B casual workers are expected to receive anything between Rs 8,000 and Rs 12,300 per month depending on the position and the grade.

At the moment, Group C and B employees of the DGHC receive Rs 4,000 and 6,000 respectively.

There are also provisions for an increment of 5 per cent in the PB every three year and on retirement at the age of 60, all employees will get a consolidated amount of Rs 1 lakh each. They will, however, not be entitled to pensions after retirement or other facilities like house rent allowances as enjoyed by other government employees during the service period.

“The agreement is largely guided by the finance department (audit branch) order dated April 23, 2010. They will be eligible to work till the age of 60 and will not have to renew their contracts or jobs,” said DGHC administrator Anil Verma. The pay band has been in force for casual workers in the rest of Bengal since June 1, 2010. The same had, however, not been applied to the DGHC workers.

However, going by the deal inked between the Morcha and the government, Mamata Banerjee has made some concession for the DGHC staff.

The April 2010 order states that only those who have completed 10 years of service as and on April 1, 2010, will be brought under the purview of the new arrangement. However, for the DGHC workers, no such deadline has been fixed and they will be automatically brought under the PB system as and when they complete 10 years of service.

Also, the DGHC employees who have not completed 10 years of service will get an enhancement in salary. “According to the agreement, there will be a 75 per cent hike in the salary and the lowest amount fixed will not be less than Rs 5,000 per month. It has also been agreed that the state government will bear the additional financial burden brought about by this hike,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, who has signed in the minutes of the meeting.

Machendra Subba, the president of the Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangatan expressed happiness. “There is job security and an enhancement in salaries for us now. This is a step in the right direction even though our demand is for direct absorption into the government service.”

It is being estimated that of the 6,000-odd employees of the DGHC, about 2,500-3,000 are likely to be included in the PB system