Agartala, Oct 9 (IANS) The BJP-led alliance government in Tripura on Tuesday hiked the salaries and allowances of its employees and pensioners in line with the 7th Central Pay Commission (7th CPC) recommendations, fulfilling a pre-poll promise.
Announcing the decision, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said that salaries and allowances of 219,454 employees and pensioners will increase by 14.2 per cent from October.
"To provide higher salaries and allowances to state government employees and pensioners, Rs 7,728 crore will be required annually, including Rs 912 crore additional expenditure," Deb told the media here.
Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Jishnu Dev Varma and three others Cabinet Ministers were also present on the occasion.
After a three-and-a-half hours Cabinet meeting, Deb said: "The Bharatiya Janata Party-IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura) government implemented its pre-poll promise as the implementation of the 7th CPC report was a longpending demand of the state employees and pensioners."
Dev Varma said that despite the state's severe financial constraint the commitment made to to government employees, pensioners and their family members before the February 18 Assembly elections was fulfilled.
"The previous CPI-M led Left Front government left behind Rs 11,500 crore liabilities and fiscal deficits. We have extended many financial benefits to the people. Despite the financial crisis, our government has taken a revolutionary step by rising salaries and allowances," he added.
Giving statistics, Revenue Minister and IPFT President Narendra Chandra Debbarma said that Tripura has 4.39 per cent government employees out of its 3.7 million population.
Health Minister Sudip Roy Barman said that it was decided in the first Cabinet meeting on March 10 to constitute a three-member expert committee led by former Chief Secretary P.P. Verma to make recommendations for raising the salaries and allowances.
"The committee submitted its report to the Chief Minister on October 5. The Council of Minister accepted all its proposals in toto."
The Chief Minister had earlier met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other senior officers to seek additional assistance of Rs 1,500 crore to effect hike in salaries and allowances of state government employees and pensioners besides meeting other government commitments.
