7th Pay Commission: Did Govt cheat employees on allowances?

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: The Central government employees had a lot of expectations from the much hyped 7th pay commission but the changes the Narendra Modi-government brought in allowances, have made the employees feel cheated.

Being ‘upset, angry and dissatisfied’ with the government decision, the employees Federation has decided to take up the matter with the government.

The Standing Committee of National Council, on Monday, held a meeting where several issues were discussed, including the demand of increasing allowance and retaining the extant House Rent Allowances (HRA) percentage of 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 10 per cent.

How were they cheated and deceived?

The union of the central government employees alleged that they have been cheated by the government on several grounds. They say:

• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had made promise to increase the minimum pay of the employees beyond Rs 18,000 but it never happened.
• Instead of increasing the HRA, the government decreased it to 24 per cent, 16 per cent and 8 per cent for X, Y & Z cities respectively against the earlier 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 10 per cent.
• The low paid employees getting Transport Allowance @ Rs 3600 plus Dearness Allowance (DA) from January 1, 2016 are going to incur huge financial loss as their Transport Allowance has been reduced to Rs 1300 plus DA.
• The ratio of pay gap between lower paid employees and top officers has been increased. It is now 1:13.9 as compared to 1:12 in the 6th pay scale.

Also Read: 7th Pay Commission: Details of allowances in different posts, pensioners

On the other hand, the All-India Defence Employees’ Federation also accused the government of cheating the Central government employees and making false propaganda promises for vested interests. It questioned why four months was wasted by the Empowered Committee if the government had already decided not to accept the recommended modifications.

The demands to increase the minimum pay to Rs 26,000, non-recommendation of five promotions in service career, non-withdrawal of the National Pension System and not increasing fitment benefit went unheeded by the government, alleged the Federation.

Also Read: 7th Pay Commission: Government employees to get 14.5 pc hike