Two per cent hike in Dearness Allowance for central govt staff as West Bengal state employees ignored for another year

The office of the West Bengal Sixth Pay Commission has asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state Finance Minister Dr Amit Mitra for another year’s extension before submitting its final report on revised pay

for state government employees. This is the second time that the commission — set up in November last year and headed by Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) professor Abhirup Sarkar — has sought an extension.

The tenure of the office of the commission was extended by six months in June this year. Sources said that a fresh extension was sought because the office of the commission felt that the suggestions and recommendations it had received were way too many to be examined within the given time.

State government employees are considering protesting over the issue. Employees of the government’s Left-backed coordination committee have threatened to demonstrate against the commission.

“Discussions are on and we are likely to put up a gherao at the commission office on December 1. It will continue for an indefinite period. Even as states like Tripura can match the DA provided by the central government, our government is unable to,” said a senior member of the coordination committee.

He further said that what had added to their frustration was that the development

had come at the same time when the Centre had announced the 2 per cent rise in DA for its employees.

“The difference in DA between state and central government employees now stands at 56 per cent,” he said.

Earlier, the state government had said it was unable to pay DA arrears owing to the state’s debt and had demanded that the Centre share some of the burden.