Odisha employees’ union threatens stir for delay in 7th pay commission implementation

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, June 8:

Opposing the delay of fitment committee report recommending the hike of employees under 7th pay commission, the employees’ union of Odisha government threatened to launch state-wide strike if the government delays to implement 7th pay commission recommendation by June 15.

Deferring the period along with forming the fitment committee is a joke of the government to provide hiked salary under Centre’s 7th pay commission recommendation to the employees under different grade and classes, said Prabhat Mohanty, chief secretary, Odisha Karmachari Sangram Samiti.

The government delayed to implement 7th pay commission in name of panchayat elections. The fitment committee headed by Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan did not submit its report by deadline. The government is intentionally delaying and harassing 5 lakh employees and over 3 lakh pensioners from getting benefits, Mohanty said in a press conference yesterday.

There was no fitment committee meeting held for resolving the issues related to 1999 5th pay commission and 2008 6th pay commission recommendations. Not a single report has been published yet, rather the government has been harassing on several pretexts, said the organisation’s secretary Mihir Narayan Jena.

Notably, the state government had constituted a six-member Fitment Committee on October 31, last year, for determining modalities for implementation of recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for its employees.

By appointing Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan as the head of the Fitment Committee, Home Secretary Asit Tripathy, Finance Secretary Tuhin Kant Pandey, Forest and Environment Secretary Suresh Mohapatra, Special Secretaries in the department of Finance A K Meena and Aswini Mishra as members, the government had directed it to submit its report within four months.

The Fitment Committee apart from determining fitment of scales, ranks, allowances and pensions would also determine the burden and impact of the revision on the state government’s finances.

The Fitment Committee has taken opinion and representations from various service associations of state government employees.

Worth mentioning, the Central government has implemented the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission with retrospective effect from January 1, 2016.