State Govts Unite Against Pay Panel Report
An uprising is brewing among various state governments against the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission. The Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu governments, among others, are reported to be lobbying strongly against the acceptance of the recommendations in toto by the Centre.
According to sources, senior bureaucrats of the various state governments are in constant touch with each other. They hope to strongly present their viewpoint during a proposed meeting to be convened by Prime Minister Deve Gowda soon after his return from World Economic Forum at Davos.
Most of the state governments have been adopting the Central government payscales for their own employees and fear that the acceptance of the Fifth Pay Commissions recommendations would sound the death-knell for their solvency.
Maharashtra finance secretary Venkat Chary categorically said: Maharashtra will not be able to bear the additional burden of Rs 3,000 crore annually on its finances. It is not at all feasible.
Maharashtra had adopted Central payscales in 1988, including dearness allowance, bonus and interim reliefs announced by the Centre from time to time. Tamil Nadu was the last state to join the Central payscale bandwagon last year.
A senior government official of Karnataka said: If the Centre wishes to go ahead with the recommendations, then they should devolve more money to the states and provide better sources of revenue to match the extent of the additional burden. Otherwise, implementation is not in the realm of possibility.
A top source from Gujarat added: The Centre could take a view that the Pay Commission recommendations are for the Central government employees only. The state need not adopt them. But one has to be pragmatic in such things. In cities like Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Mumbai, Chennai and even Pune, Central government and state government employees live cheek-by-jowl. Moreover, they put in the same amount of work.
He too expects the additional annual burden on his state government to be in the range of Rs 2,500 crore-plus.
Curiously, senior state government bureaucrats are opposing the Pay Commission recommendations even though they themselves stand to gain.
As Chary conceded: I would welcome the recommendations personally. My monthly salary will go up by at least Rs 8,000 and would be a healthy Rs 4,800-plus even after tax cuts. This is not something to be sneezed at in these times of high prices.