KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced a 3% DA for all state employees in January 2021. The move is expected to cost the state exchequer an additional Rs 2,200 crore. Banerjee also said land mutation certificates will not be mandatory for farmers seeking to enrol in the Krishak Bandhu scheme during the ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government at doorstep) camps.
Banerjee, urging the party’s state employees federation to express “solidarity” with central government employees who are fighting job-loss prospects, stressed how the Centre had “freezed” DA (for its employees) for the past two years and some state governments had even slashed employee entitlements by a third.
“In Bengal, be assured that your jobs are safe. Not a single person has lost his/her job. Even those (state employees) who had opposed me are safe. In fact, they got more advantages. The retirement age of contractual employees has been extended to 60 years and they are entitled to a Rs 3-lakh post-retirement benefit. The monthly emoluments of ASHA, ICDS and civic volunteers have been increased. Now, compare this with central government employees who are living under the fear of layoffs and VRS,” she said.
According to details provided at the meeting, the state had implemented the 30% DA revision proposal of the Pay Commission from 2011. Later, when the DA reached 125% of the salary, it was merged with the basic salary. In 2020 January, this revised salary with an additional component of 2.5% was paid to the employees. It had cost the state a little over Rs 14,000 crore. The 3% DA will be on the revised scale, the employees were told.
Banerjee also said the requirement for mutation certificates to enrol in the Krisak Bandhu scheme will be waived. The scheme provides farmers, with 1-acre or more land, with a Rs 5,000 per annum assistance in the Rabi and Kharif season. It also provides for a Rs 2-lakh one-time assistance for any farmer’s death. “I would request BLLROs to waive the need for mutation certificates. The taxes for agricultural land holdings have been waived. Even for homestead land, no taxes will be charged till June. Self-attested declarations (on tax payments) will be accepted. In case declarations are found wrong, they will be addressed appropriately,” she said.