Odisha hikes allowances for Fire Service personnel

Bhubaneswar: Just a day before the Odisha Fire Service personnel were scheduled to hit the street with an indefinite cease-work strike, the State government today hiked several allowances for employees in the ranks of Fireman, Fireman Driver, Leading Fireman, Driver Havildar and Havildar Mechanic.

A notification issued by the Home Department stated that the government will now allow one month’s extra pay as extra duty incentive subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs 17,000 per annum with immediate effect.

This apart, the government has enhanced the bicycle allowance also named Mobility allowance from Rs 75 per month to Rs 150 per month and hiked the special diet allowance from Rs 700 to Rs 900 per month.

It may be noted that the Fire services personnel had earlier threatened to launch an indefinite cease-work strike from tomorrow demanding fulfillment of a 4-point charter of demands which includes provision of salary equivalent to that of Odisha Police, regularisation of contractual employees and provision for pension.