Beset with a series of agitations and protests by various government employee Unions ahead of the Assembly polls, the Gujarat government has announced pay revisions for Police constables, Anganwadi workers, and others in an attempt to placate the employees ahead of the polls.
The Gujarat State Employees’ Coordination Committee, an umbrella body of the various Unions, has been demanding pay revision, end of the contract system, increasing allowance for extra work, and switching to the Old Pension Scheme.
In the Panchayat department; around 26,000 healthcare workers of different cadres like Multi-purpose Health Worker (MPHW), Female Health Worker (FHW), Multi-purpose Health Supervisor (MPHS) and Female Health Supervisor (FHS) from across the State had called for a strike in August this year.
Following the strike, the government had constituted a five-member ministerial committee to talk to the representatives of the Unions and discuss their demands.
The government has so far accepted several demands like increasing the salaries of Police constables, Panchayat Secretaries, Anganwadi and ASHA workers.
On August 14, the government announced a ₹550 crore package for the police force to increase the salaries of the Constables.
Accordingly, the annual salaries of the Lok Rakshak Dal (LRD) personnel, Constables, Head Constables, and Assistant Sub-Inspectors (ASIs) have been increased to ₹3.47 lakh, ₹4.16 lakh, ₹4.95 lakh, and ₹5.84 lakh.
The government decision came a few days after Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal raised the issue of lower salaries of the Police force during his Gujarat visit.
Subsequently; the State government announced an increase in the allowance of village panchayat clerks from ₹800 per month to ₹3000. The allowance is in addition to their regular salary.
On Friday, the State government announced that it has accepted the long pending demand for a pay revision of anganwadi workers and helpers who are holding sit-ins across the State since September 12.
As per the government release, the existing salary of anganwadi workers has been raised from ₹7,800 to ₹10,000, a hike of ₹2200. Similarly, the monthly salary for anganwadi helpers who are getting Rs ₹3,950 as monthly salary has been hiked to ₹5,500.
Moreover, the State government also announced to disburse the pending allowances of the 7th Pay Commission as per the standards of Central government.
As per the details shared by the State Information Department; the State government employees who have joined the services before April 1, 2005, will be included in GPF (General Provident Fund) and Old Pension Scheme. Additionally, the government has also decided to increase CPF (Contributory Provident Fund) to 14%, from the existing 10%.
However, the most important and pressing demand of all employees, the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) instead of the current New Pension Scheme (NPS), has not been accepted by the State so far.
