Seeking better pay, SSB takes pay panel team to border

The forces now seem to be devising new ways to make the government accede to their demands.

Despite promises from the Centre, the demands of paramilitary forces for pay parity with the armed forces on various fronts have been hanging fire for over a year now. The forces now seem to be devising new ways to make the government accede to their demands.

Last week, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) DG B D Sharma took three members of the Seventh Pay Commission — including its chairman Justice Ashok Mathur, Secretary Meena Aggarwal and member Vivek Rae — to forward areas of Uttarakhand, with certain posts located at a height of over 11,000 feet.

This was followed by a visit of MoS for Home Kiren Rijiju to these areas on Sunday. Rijiju was learnt to have promised to push for pay parity demands.

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SSB sources said the Seventh Pay Commission team was taken to border outposts of Gunji and Kalapani in Uttarakhand, where they interacted with jawans and learnt first-hand about the hardships faced by them in guarding border areas.

“The idea was to help decision-makers know in what conditions the jawans work and why their demands are genuine. Both the Seventh Pay Commission and the minister were very sporting and visited forward areas without any fuss,” SSB DG BD Sharma told The Indian Express.

The forces had made several demands, including one-rank-one-pension.

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