State Government to bear annual burden of Rs. 500 crore
Accepting recommendations of Agrawal Pay Commission, the State Government has given Independence Day gift to government employees by revising rates of house rent allowance, free residential facility, conveyance allowance, vehicle/transport allowance, Reserved Area allowance and non-professional allowance. Besides, the State Government has also accepted the recommendation about calculation of pension as per Central Government’s index.
State Government employees will start getting benefit of revised rates of house rent allowance, concessional rate of rent of government quarters in Reserved Areas and non-commercial allowance with retrospective effects from November 1, 2011. Benefits of remaining recommendations will be given with effect from August 1, 2012. The State Government will bear an annual burden of Rs. 500 crore due to acceptance of these recommendations.
House rent allowance
Under this head, allowance of eight percent was given in cities with over five lakh population. Now, ten percent house rent allowance will be given in cities with over seven lakh population. Earlier, house rent allowance worth five percent was given in cities with 2 lakh to 5 lakh population. Now, seven percent allowance will be given in cities with 3 lakh to 7 lakh population. At present, four percent house rent allowance was payable in cities having 50 thousand to two lakh population. Now, five percent house rent allowance will be paid in cities with 50 thousand to three lakh population. Allowance worth 2.5 percent was given in cities with below 50 thousand population, which has been increased to three percent.
Free of cost residential facility
Earlier, Rs. 200 to Rs. 800 house rent allowance was payable to inspectors, sub-inspectors, head constables and constables of police, foresters, deputy foresters, Vanpals, forest guards and Jail Department’s superintendents, deputy superintendents, chief wardens, wardens and matrons. Effecting an increase in the rates, now house rent allowance will be paid to employees of equal pay scale, as per employee’s eligibility for category of house and as per minimum licence fees at Rs. 758 + 150 = 908 to Rs. 1629 + 425 = 2054.
Vehicle allowance
Rates of vehicle allowance for motor car has also been revised upward. Earlier, motor car allowance of Rs. 300 to Rs. 800 was given to government employees, which has been increased to Rs. 750 to Rs. 2000. Allowance for other conveyance sources has also been increased from Rs. 100 to Rs. 230 to Rs. 300 and Rs. 700.
Daily allowance
Besides daily allowance, headquarters allowance and special rest allowance have also been revised upwards. In ‘A’ category Rs. 200 will be given in place of Rs. 80, in ‘B’ category Rs. 160 in place of Rs. 60, in ‘C’ category Rs. 120 in place of Rs. 48 and in ‘D’ category Rs. 100 will be given in place of Rs. 32. Rate of daily allowance in newly constituted ‘E’ category has been fixed as Rs. 70. Now, in ‘A’ category Rs. 200 will be given for one-day journey, Rs. 400 for two days, Rs. 600 for three days and Rs. 2000 will be given a simple rate on the journey of ten days.
Eligibility for air travel
Earlier, officers of Secretary and above ranks were eligible for air travel. Now, officers of Grade Pay “A” category drawing Rs. 7600 have also been given eligibility for air travel. Besides, officers of Grade Pay Rs. 6600 will also be eligible for air travel through air service being operated by private operators within the state.
Meal allowance
Only Grad Pay will be accepted as basis.
Lodging allowance
Now, Rs. 500 to Rs. 4000 per day will be given in place of Rs. 200 to Rs. 3000 for staying at hotels in mega cities outside the state. Earlier, Rs. 100 to Rs. 250 was given for staying at relative’s house. Now, Rs. 200 to Rs. 400 will be given. Rs. 250 to Rs. 2000 will be given for lodging in places within the state. Earlier, this facility was available to only class-I officers.
Local conveyance during tour
Now, Rs. 150 to Rs. 1200 will be given in place Rs. 100 to Rs. 1000 for conveyance reimbursement. Rs. 50 to Rs. 250 will be given for making conveyance arrangement by employee himself as per earlier practice.
Transfer grant
It will now be given at the rate of Rs. 900 to Rs. 3000 in place of Rs. 300 to
Rs. 1000.
Vehicle allowance
Class-III and IV employees at Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur will get Rs. 200 per month in place of Rs. 50 while disabled employees will be given Rs. 350 per month. The commission had recommended Rs. 75 for general and Rs. 150 per month for disabled employees. Thus, the State Government has sanctioned more funds than recommended by the commission.
House rent allowance in reserved areas
House rent allowance was given at the rate of Rs. 22 to Rs. 126 to employees posted in reserved areas. It has been increased. Now, employees posted in reserved areas will get one percent more house rent allowance than employees posted in general areas.
Special allowance in reserved areas
Earlier, special allowance of Rs. 120 to Rs. 600 was given to government employees posted in Category-1 development blocks in reserved areas. Now, they will get Rs. 400 to Rs. 1200. The allowance given to employees posted in Category-II development blocks will now get Rs. 300 to Rs. 900 in place of Rs. 80 to Rs. 400. Similarly, Rs. 150 to Rs. 450 allowance will be given in place of Rs. 40 to Rs. 200 in Category-III development blocks.
Uniform allowance in Jail, Home and Forest departments
Uniform allowance given in these departments has also been increased from Rs. 800 to Rs. 2400 to Rs. 1200 to Rs. 3600. Renewal grant given every three years has also been revised upwardly. It will now be Rs. 800 to Rs. 2400 in place of Rs. 300 to Rs. 2000.
Non-practicing allowance (NPA)
Rates of non-practicing allowance have also been revised upwardly. Earlier, it was Rs. 2500 on Rs. 10 thousand payable at the rate of 25 percent of basic pay. Now, it has been fixed at Rs. 630 on the basic pay of Rs. 25 thousand 200.