Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday issued directions to clear the outstanding 20 per cent arrear of the Seventh Pay Commission of State government employees. Sources in the CMO said the employees now stand to receive the arrear amount along with their March salary.
Already 80 percent of the Pay Commission salary slab arrears have been paid to the State government employees and the decision to clear the pending dues will benefit nearly 4 lakh employees.
An additional budgetary outlay of Rs 850 crore has been earmarked in the 2021-22 supplementary budget for the purpose.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Odisha government had accepted the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission and implemented it from January 2016. Accordingly the hiked salary was paid from September 2017.
As per the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, it was decided to pay a 20-month increase in arrears between January 2014 and August 2018 in various instalments.
As per the decision, 40 per cent of the increased pay was cleared in 2016-17, 10 per cent in 2019-20 and 30 per cent in 2021-22. It is worth noting that pensioners have also received 100 per cent of their salaries.