New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: “The Narendra Modi government was to increase our minimum salary but instead of taking a decision in this regard, it tricked us again by increasing the Dearness Allowance (DA),” alleged a Central government employee on the condition of anonymity.
The government employees had been expecting the Centre to announce something related to the minimum pay after the end of Holi. However, it cheated the lakhs of employees again, he lamented.
Another employee said, “We were a bit doubtful of the government accepting our demand to increase the minimum pay from the present Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000. But expectations were there that it would at least take a final call before the end of the current financial year by taking into account the problems we have been facing.”
If the government was in no mood to increase the minimum pay, why did it dilly-dally the issue, he questioned, adding that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had assured the employees last year during the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission that employees' salary would be hiked further.
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Resentment among the Central government employees seems to be brewing again with the government increasing the DA by 2 per cent. They believe that the government will not consider increasing the minimum pay after the increase of the DA for the time being.
On the other hand, some employees have welcomed the decision of the government and are of the view that it’s not feasible on part of the government to increase the fitment factor 3.68 times from the existing 2.57 times.
“Modi government had earlier promised to hike the pay only after the DA crosses 50 per cent with an aim to keep a balance between the salary of the employee and the market price. So, one should not get intolerant,” a retired Railway employee said.