Kolkata: In a major relief for state government employees, Nabanna has announced an extension of the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) and Home Travel Concession (HTC) block period. The Finance Department has issued a fresh notification stating that the current block period for both schemes will now be extended by one year.
As per existing rules, government employees are entitled to one HTC once in every five years for visiting any place within Bengal, and one LTC once every ten years for visiting any place within India or in the specified neighbouring countries. It has come to the government’s notice that a significant number of employees have either not been able to avail of, or are unable to avail of, the LTC/HTC facility within the current block period. To address this, state employees will now be permitted to use the facility within the first year of the next block, i.e., during an extended period of one year.
According to a notification of the state Finance department, the current block period for both LTC and HTC, which are scheduled to end on October 31, 2025, shall stand extended up to October 31, 2026 The government has clarified that extension of the current block period by one year is a one-time relaxation granted to employees who could not avail of the benefit within
the stipulated time. It shall not alter or postpone the commencement of subsequent block periods.
The notification further states that the next regular block period for both LTC and HTC shall commence as usual from November 1, 2025, notwithstanding the above extension. The state government emphasised that apart from the extension, all other rules and conditions for availing of LTC and HTC remain unchanged.