Seventh Pay Commission to cost state Rs4,000 crore

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 30

With Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu announcing to implement the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, the state exchequer is likely to get an extra burden of Rs 4,000 crore.

Presently, the 2016-17 estimated salary bill of the state is Rs 19,311 crore, while pension estimates are Rs 5,640 crore.

The Sixth Pay Commission in 2008 had put an additional financial burden of Rs 5,125 crore on the state government.

The state government is already paying interim relief to its employees which would be adjusted after the implementation of the recommendations.

Sources said there were nearly 1.83 lakh pensioners and 31,000 widows of the deceased pensioners and 2.76 lakh employees in the state.

Figures of the finance department show that the pension bill of the state has been increasing every year.

During 2015-16, it increased to Rs 5,400 crore from Rs 3,204 crore in 2011-12.

The annual increase in pension bill is between Rs 400-500 crore, but with the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, it is likely to increase by more than Rs 1,000 crore.

“We would implement the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for the state government employees at the earliest. We had made a provision of Rs 4,000 crore for the Seventh Pay Commission in our annual Budget.

“The state government has always taken all required steps for welfare of employees and in future also keep doing it,” said Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu.

During 2015-16, the salary bill had reached Rs 15,514 crore from Rs 10,615 crore in 2012-13.

During the past six years, the salary bill has witnessed the maximum increase of Rs 2,218 crore from 2014-15 to 2015-16, as the former Bhupinder Singh Hooda led-Congress government had resorted to large scale recruitments during the election year.

Haryana to implement recommendations

Sonepat:  Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu today said the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission would be implemented in the state from the same date and with same grades. Addressing media persons in Kharkhoda, he said speedy development of the state was the priority of the government, adding the process to set up an Industrial Model Township (IMT) in partnership with the Wanda Group of Industries, China, near Kharkhoda, had begun. He claimed development projects such as the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway would promote business activity and generate employment for the youth.