K'taka Govt pays special allowance to teachers

H D Kote, May 11 (UNI) The Karnataka Government today issued an order enabling payment of Rs 200 as special allowance to government teachers in the state.

Informing this to reporters at the Kabini Reservoir guest house, Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said the government order had been issued to help teachers of primary and secondary schools, besides pre-university college. The payment would cause a burden of Rs 252 crore per annum to the state exchequer.

He said the government had taken a decision to this effect to help teachers, though the Fifth Pay Commission had not recommended it.

Mr Yediyurappa also informed that the government had accepted the recommendations of the Pay Commission to hike the basic salary of government employees to ten per cent and interim relief already accepted. It would cause an additional expenditure of Rs 580 crore per year to the government.

In all the government was spending Rs 832 crore on both the government employees and teachers in the state, the second largest budgetary allocation, next to the Rs 900 crore set aside for irrigation works.

Mr Yediyurappa said the government had directed supply of power to 11,500 beneficiaries registered under the Ganga Kalyana programme in the state. It had already released Rs 6.5 crore for the purpose and the entire process would be completed within the next three months.

Later, inaugurating the Dr Ambedkar Jayanthi celebrations, organised by various organisations here, he urged the Centre to amend the rules to make the display of the photo of the architect of the Indian Constitution mandatory in all government offices.

He warned that stringent action would be taken against officials and business establishments, if they practised untouchability in the state.

He also sanctioned Rs ten lakh from the Maland Area Development Fund for the construction of Dr Ambedkar community hall here.

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