Pending arrears: Rawat govt announces Diwali bonanza to over 2 lakh employees

DEHRADUN: Over two lakh state government employees got the much awaited Diwali bonanza Thursday with the Cabinet clearing a plan to pay long pending arrears in keeping with the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.

“Initially, the state employees would be disbursed 50% of the arrears (pertaining to pay hike and allowances) pending from 1 January 2016 to 31 December (2016). The rest will be disbursed later,” urban development minister Madan Kaushik told reporters after the Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.

The minister said disbursement of the pending arrears would cost Rs 600 crore to the exchequer. Besides, the Cabinet cleared a proposal recommending payment to the employees 5% dearness allowance, which was one per cent more than the last fiscal. “Pending arrears will also be paid to the employees of state transport corporation and those of SIDCUL , as per the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.”

Similarly, the Cabinet cleared a proposal whereby all three-tier panchayat representatives would be paid enhanced stipends. “It, however, referred a report relating to pay scale related anomalies back to the pay anomaly committee for a review following objections by a section of the employees,” he said.

The Cabinet recommended that a separate committee be set up under chief secretary S Ramaswamy to examine the employee-related issues other than salaries and allowances. Kaushik said the Cabinet gave nod to a separate solid waste management policy for rural areas under the jurisdiction of panchayats. “The policy in question was formulated on the pattern of the solid waste management policy meant for the urban areas.”

The Council of Ministers approved the proposal to restore the earlier provision whereby 2% of the total cost of land was charged as registration fee during sale or purchase. “The new system replaced the earlier one under which land registration was carried out on a Rs 1,000 stamp paper. The old system was disbanded as it caused revenue losses up to Rs 14 crore after its introduction in 2015.”

The Cabinet gave nod to the government’s proposal to constitute four new district-level development authorities for Haridwar, Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital. It also cleared a proposal recommending identification of commercial buildings in the remaining nine hill districts. “It also directed the government to set up a committee to identify land for commercial buildings in the hills.” Kaushik said.

The proposed four-member panel would be headed by parliamentary affairs minister Prakash Pant. Cabinet ministers Kaushik, Subodh Uniyal and Harak Singh Rawat would be its members.

The Cabinet approved the rules whereby the Tehri Lake Development Authority and the Kedarnath Development Authority would be legally empowered for land pooling. It gave nod to a proposal whereby mothers adopting children would be entitled to 180 days of adoption leave.

The Cabinet gave a go ahead to a proposal recommending extension of Nagar Panchayat, Nand Prayag. It also recommended relaxation of land conversion rules to pave the way for setting up the proposed State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) camp office at Jolly Grant.