2L Govt employees, 1.90L pensioners to get revised payscales in Himachal

Shimla: Ending the suspense over pay revisions, Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Monday decided to implement recommendations of the sixth pay commission to hike the salaries, wages and allowance of the government employees.

Nearly two lakh employees and 1.90 lakh pensioners ie retired government servants will be getting revised payscales from January 1, 2022.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who had been in Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned in the afternoon and presided over the Cabinet meeting to take a decision on the new scales for the employees.

"The government decided to provide revised pay scales to about 2 lakh employees of the state government from January 1, 2016. The employees would get salary of January, 2022 payable in February, 2022 in revised pay scale," said a spokesman.

This would put an additional burden of about Rs 4000 crore annually on the state exchequer.

The state government has already provided interim relief of about Rs 5000 crore to the employees as part of the arrears. After the revised pay scales due to higher fixation of about 1,05,000 NPS employees, Rs 260 crore would be spent as government contribution as 6 years arrears under NPS. Decision was also taken to increase the salary of contract employees.

The Cabinet also gave its nod to promulgate Himachal Pradesh Swarn Jayanti (Legacy Cases Resolution) Scheme, 2021 for settlement of arrears of tax, fee, interest, penalty etc which are pending for recovery or are pending in the appellate forums or may accrue in future as a result of disposal of pending tax assessment under the various enactments.

This would also address the tax dues which are trapped in the cases that have not been assessed so far as well as those cases where arrears have been declared under the Himachal Pradesh Land Revenue Act, 1954. This would help in redressal of over 1.68 lakh cases.

The Cabinet also reviewed the Covid situation in the state in the light of the fears about the third wave and decided to enforce strict norms for making the tourists coming to the state to follow social distancing and follow the Covid appropriate behaviour.

The state is witnessing an increased influx of the tourists in view of the Christmas and new year celebrations.

"It has been seen that many tourists don't wear the masks or go to crowded places without taking precautions," admits Cabinet minister Suresh Bhardwaj adding the administration will keep a close watch on the situation.