With barely four months to go for Assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced the biggest possible sop to woo voters: he announced the implementation of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) recommendations, intended to benefit about 22 lakh employees and pensioners.
The decision was taken by the state cabinet on Tuesday and the salary hike proposals will be implemented from next month (January 2017).
As per new salary structure, entry salary that is of the lowest rung will be around Rs 18,000, while the highest salary will be around Rs 2.25 lakh, reported The Financial Express.
The news comes even as some states such as Odisha and Goa have either decided to implement the recommendations for their state government employees or have hinted at implementing them.
The Odisha government's annual salary bill of Rs 29,800 crore would increase by about Rs 5,000 crore on account of the implementation of the CPC recommendations.
The Goa government had allocated Rs 2,553 crore for salaries and pensioners for the financial year 2016-17, as against Rs 1,946 crore in the previous fiscal, to accommodate the additional outgo arising out of the impending implementation of the CPC for its employees.
As for Central government employees, the hike for salary component was implemented in June this year, but a decision on allowances is yet to be taken.
The recommendations of the 7th CPC covers 47 lakh Central government employees and 53 lakh pensioners, of which 14 lakh employees and 18 lakh pensioners are from the defence forces.
