West Bengal announces higher festival bonus, part of pay commission arrears also to be released.

The West Bengal government today announced festival sops and benefits for its employees and pensioners with a total financial implication of Rs 800 crore. 
No D.A is being released in near future.

Making a statement in the Assembly, Finance Minister Amit Mitra said state government employees would be given 50 per cent of the third instalment of pay commission arrears due to them, which would have a financial implication of Rs 500 crore.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided that the government would give Rs 2,100 as ad-hoc bonus for Ramadan, Durga Puja or Christmas to employees with gross monthly emoluments up to Rs 20,000, Mitra said.

Besides, employees drawing monthly salary between Rs 20,000 and 28,000 would be eligible for interest-free festival advance of Rs 2,000, he said.

During the erstwhile Left Front regime, only employees drawing monthly salary up to Rs 18,000 were eligible for the bonus and they were paid only Rs 1,000, he said.

Pensioners, who were given an ex-gratia of Rs 400 by the Left Front, will now be given Rs 800, he said.

The total financial implication for the bonus and ex- gratia will be Rs 350 crore, he added.

“The government decided to revise the Puja bonus amount after sensing the resentment among the employees following the three-month freeze on DA hike,” a source said. The finance minister also announced that government employees would get 50 per cent of the third and final instalment of arrears of the Fifth Pay Commission this year, although they were supposed to get the full amount. Mitra said the payment of arrears would cost the exchequer around Rs 500 crore this year. “The remaining 50 per cent is likely to be paid next year,’’ a source said. Asked when the government planned to pay arrears for the three-month freeze on DA hike, Mitra said: “We will decide on that later.’’ State government employees get 35 per cent of basic and grade pay as DA while their central government counterparts receive 51 per cent. The state employees were expected to get a DA instalment at an increased rate from July 1 this year but the government postponed it citing “financial stress’’. With graphics and inputs from "The Telegraph".