Good news for civic volunteers: Govt increases salary to Rs 8,000
Kolkata: Good news for civic volunteers in the state!
The state government has decided to increase their salary to Rs 8,000 ahead of Durga Puja.
The civic volunteers at present get Rs 5,500 per month and it would increase by Rs 2,500 from October 1 onwards.
The cabinet has given its nod in this connection on Wednesday and it would benefit around 1.20 lakh civic volunteers in the state.
In a Press conference, minister of state for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya said: "Civic volunteers would be getting Rs 8000 per month from October 1 onwards."
It may be recalled that on May 21, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced: "Our government completed seven years in May and it is my endeavour to bring smile on millions of faces. I spoke to Chief Secretary, Malay De, and Director General of Police, Surajit Kar Purkayastha, in connection with the increase in salary of civic volunteers. They (civic volunteers) work a lot and they are performing well. There are around 1.20 lakh civic volunteers. Earlier, they used to get a salary of Rs 3,500. Last year, it was increased to Rs 5,500. Their performance has been excellent and in a bid to secure their future, the decision has been taken to increase it to Rs 8,000."
At the same time, the Chief Minister has urged civic volunteers to work with more responsibility. She has assured that they will be given due recognition of junior home guards and necessary training to get promoted to the post of police constables.
It may be mentioned that with the approval of the cabinet to increase the salary of the civic volunteers, there will be an additional expenditure of Rs 393.39 crore from the state's exchequer.
Despite clearing a huge loan of Rs 40,000 crore that was left behind by the erstwhile Left Front government, the Mamata Banerjee government has taken this step to increase the salary of the civic volunteers as they had been working with due diligence.
The civic volunteers are happy with the decision of the state government and according to a section of the volunteers, it will act as a motivation to work better.
