Govt to give September salary before Durga Puja

Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government will give the salary of the month of September to its employees ahead of the state's biggest festival Durga Puja.

The state Finance Department has issued a notification on Friday stating that the salary of the employees will be given "on the penultimate and last working day of this month that is by September 25".

It may be mentioned that September 25 is the last working day as from 26th onwards there will be holiday for the Puja.

The notification states: "In view of the upcoming Puja Festival 2017, salary for the month of September 2017 in respect of State Government employees, employees of non-government aided educational institutions, libraries, primary schools, and employees of panchayat bodies shall get their salaries in September 25".

At the same time, honorarium, stipends and remuneration that the state government provides will also be given on the same day.

The Finance Department directed the treasury and accounts officers to "generate mandate to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for credit into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries by September 25 as it is the last working day of the month".

At the same time, the last date of submission of salary bills for all categories of employees to the treasuries is September 8 to ensure that salaries get transferred to bank accounts of the employees on September 25.

The decision has been welcomed by employees of the state government.

It may be mentioned that the state government has also increased the festival bonus and advance. The state government on June 14 had made the announcement of increasing the ad-hoc bonus and advance to its employees. Compared to that of the previous year, in 2017, the ad-hoc bonus for the employees who get salary between Rs 26,000 and Rs 36,000 was increased by Rs 1,000. The casual workers who are working for a minimum of 120 days and those who are on consolidated pay in the year 2016-17 are going to get the ad-hoc bonus.