Sunday, September 21, 2008

6th Pay Commission, State to adopt recommendations

The Sangai Express

IMPHAL, Sep 20 : In a move that is sure to bring smiles to employees of the State Government as well as pensioners, Chief Minister O Ibobi has assured that the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission will be implemented by the State Government.

Replying to queries raised by some Editors on the 6th Pay Commission during an informal chat at his office chamber today morning, the Chief Minister said, “Why not ? The State Government employees will receive the benefits recommended by the 6th Pay Commission and the Government has already done its home work.”

The Chief Minister said that the Government has already prepared to adopt the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission and added that the 13th Finance Commission has also included a provision for the same.

At the moment all Government employees and pensioners are paid according to the recommendations of the 5th Pay Commission.

Though the State Government may not be able to stick to the clause of ‘with retrospective effect from 2006’, the basic scale of the State Government employees will be doubled. Moreover the amount pensioners are currently receiving will see a quantum increase.

Since adopting the 6th Pay Commission will entail huge expenditure, the State Government had already proposed to the 13th Finance Commission to work out the State’s share keeping in mind the increased expenditure, said the Chief Minister.

Since the salaries of the Government employees are to be paid from the non-Plan budget and with the Government having little source of income on its own, the 13th Finance Commission was urged to increase the share of the State, said the Chief Minister.

Significantly when the 5th Pay Commission was implemented during the time of W Nipamacha, the State witnessed an acute financial crisis as the extra expenditure to be incurred was not included in the budget.

Funds meant for development works were instead utilised to meet the salary demands of the Government employees then.

Talking to The Sangai Express a reliable source said that since the 13th Finance Commission has already agreed to hike the State’s share to meet the extra expenditure when the 6th Pay Commission is adopted, the State Government will not face too much burden.

Though the Chief Minister has assured that the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission will be adopted and its benefits extended to the employees, he nevertheless appealed to all not to demand the increase in arrears as that would prove unbearable to the State exchequer.

Once the 6th Pay Commission is implemented then the State Government employees will also receive DAs that will compare favourably with the Central Government employees, said the Chief Minister further.

Ibobi informed that a team of the 13 Finance Commission led by Kelkar will visit Manipur sometime next month in connection with the adoption of the 6th Pay Commission.

The unique feature of the 13th Finance Commission is that unlike the past, they started their work in advance and visited each State all over the country to get a first hand account of the needs of each State.

On the other hand the JAC of AMTUC and AMGEO is set to convene a meeting at Imphal on September 25 to discuss the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission.

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