October wage bill up to Rs 195 crore
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Despite the financial crunch, due to loss of mining revenue, sluggish industrial growth, etc, the State government has decided to give Diwali bonus, to nearly 45,000 government employees incurring additional liability of almost Rs 35 crore which along with the salary for October would add up to nearly Rs 200 crore.
The festival of lights will also bring more cheers with government increasing the dearness allowance (DA) of its employees by 10 per cent, which would be paid retrospectively from July.
Diwali has turned the heat on the government exchequer, with the salary of the government employees for the month of October 2013, including festival bonus and dearness allowance shooting to a whopping Rs 195 crore.
Sources from Finance department confirmed that the bonus would be provided by end of this month. Official said that there are total 60,000 government servants, employed in various government departments but only 45,000 are eligible for the benefits according to the rules.
The State government has been paying Rs 130 crore monthly as salary for the government servants and it will have to shell out additional liability of Rs 35 crore to the State exchequer. “The employees will be given bonus this festival season ranging from Rs 3,000 to 5,000 each, all of which adds up to additional liability of Rs 35 crore,” the official disclosed.
Speaking about the DA, the official stated that the arrears would be paid next month, and would amount to Rs 30 crore. The additional monthly liability incurred from revised DA would be Rs 7.5 crore, he added. The DA was earlier 58 per cent of basic and would now touch 68 per cent.
The allowance has been applicable to all government departments, corporations and autonomous bodies’ employees. DA would be also paid to over 22,000-odd government pensioners.
