The State employees and pensioners have hailed the timely move of the Coalition Government to release the Dearness Allowance, besides bringing down the scale of qualifying service for seeking pensionary benefits.They specially expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, Finance Minister, Dr Haseeb Drabu, Chief Secretary, Mr B B Vyas and Commissioner Secretary, Finance, Mr Navin Kumar Choudhary for taking several other employee-friendly measures over the last three years.Dr Drabu said these measures have been taken without any demand which shows the larger commitment of the government towards the employees. He said the government will also work for implementing the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations soon."The government is keen to ensure the welfare of employees and they should enhance commitment and work with professional and personal integrity to fulfil the agenda of the government led by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti," Dr Drabu said.
The Employees said it is for the first time that the Dearness Allowance has been released by any State Government without the employees having to resort to agitation over the issue or any other move which may hamper the functioning of the administration."During the past two years, 30% DA was released by the present government without the employees having to resort to any agitation. These employee-friendly measures have assured us of the Government's concern and will encourage the employees to work even harder in coming days," they said.They said that bringing down the qualifying service for full pensionary benefits from 33 to 20 years is another laudable move taken by the State Government, "Bringing down the qualifying service scale will be immensely beneficial for those employees who have joined the service late and it will secure their future," they said.They also hailed the move to increase of Temporary Move Allowance (TMA) from Rs 10000 to Rs 15000 as a laudable measure of the Government, "At a time when the inflation is high, hiking TMA is going to help the employees in the long run. The message that has come out of these decisions is that the Government is working for the welfare of its employees," they said.