50 pc DA merged with basic pay in MP

Bhopal, Jan 3 (UNI) The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to merge 50 per cent dearness allowance with the basic pay of its over Five lakh employees with effect from April 1, chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said today.

The decision, conceding the long-pending demand of the employees, would entail additional expenditure of Rs 418 crore to the state exchequer per annum, he told reporters here.

At present the employees were getting 70 per cent dearness allowance. The state government also raises DA whenever such increase was effected by the Union government, Mr Chouhan said.

Claiming the BJP government was pro-employee, he said it was expected that with such a move the employees would work with devotion and honesty in public interest.

Stating that the government had taken various decisions in the interest of employees, he said ban on compassionate appointment had been lifted and Brahma Swaroop committee recommendations implemented.

The chief minister declined to comment on the two-day strike by court employees since yesterday against curtailing holidays and increasing working hours saying, it was a judicial matter.

On the ongoing dharna by 'Gurujis' in the state capital since yesterday, demanding regularisation of about 39,000 Gurujis across the state, Mr Chouhan said the School Education Minister would hold talks with the agitators today.

He said shortage of doctors was main reason for increasing the retirement age of allopathy doctors to 62 from 60 years and of the teachers in medical colleges to 65 years from 62. Increase in retirement age would not pose any problem before the unemployed, he added.

UNI