While addressing the ‘Abhinandan’ function of Officers and Employees of Seraj (Seraj Sarv Adhikari Avm Karamchari Varg) at Thunag in Seraj Vidhan Sabha area of Mandi district today, the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that the employees were the backbone of the State Government as they not only helps in effective implementation of the policies and programmes of the State Government, but also ensure that the benefits of the development reaches the person living at the lowest ebb.
Chief Minister said that the State Government has always maintained cordial relations with its employees and most of the issues pertaining to the employees were resolved during this period, despite the pandemic.
He said that despite the COVID-19 crisis, the State Government has ensured full salary, pension and other benefits to the employees so that they do not face any inconvenience. He said that the period of regularization of contract employees was reduced from three years to two years and one year relaxation to regularize the daily wagers.
Jai Ram Thakur said that the opposition leaders were misleading the employees of the State in the name of OPS. He asked the Congress leaders why the Congress Chief Ministers have not implemented OPS in their ruling States even after ten months of their announcements.
He said that it was for sure that whenever the OPS would be implemented in the country it would definitely be implemented during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He urged the employees of the State to have faith in the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he would definitely come up to their expectations.
Chief Minister said that issues of Computer teachers, issues of outsource employees etc would be considered sympathetically. He said that the State Government has recently decided to constitute ‘Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas and Rozgar Nigam Company’ which would ensure deployment of skilled, semi-skilled and other manpower in Government Departments, Boards, Corporations and Universities etc. He said that this would provide much needed relief to the employees.
Jai Ram Thakur said that on the auspicious occasion of Independence Day this year, the State Government had announced to release the first instalment of arrears of revised pay scale to the employees and pensioners with effect from 1st January, 2016.
Arrears of revised pay scale will be given to lakhs of employees of Himachal Pradesh , which would benefit about 2.25 lakh employees and 1.90 lakh pensioners of the state, he added. He said that the daily wages of the daily wagers has been increased by Rs. 140. In the year 2017, the daily wagers were getting Rs. 210, which has been increased to Rs. 350 by the present State government.
He said that the contribution of NPS has been increased from 10 to 14 percent to benefit more than one lakh NPS employees of the state, besides providing them benefits of Death Cum Retirement Gratuity (DCRG) at par with OPS employees. He said that the upper limit of gratuity has been increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.
Chief Minister also released a folk song composed and sung by local folk singer Ramesh Bhardwaj on the occasion.School Lecturer Association President and Convener of this event, Kesar Singh Thakur thanked the Chief Minister for always being considerate towards solving various issues of the employees.
He said that Chief Minister, even in his earlier tenures as representative of Seraj constituency, had always constantly remained in touch with the employees of the Seraj. He said that the employees of Seraj had always remained on the side of development.
Chairman State NGO Federation Ashwani Thakur said that the present State Government under the able leadership of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur ensured that the employees of the State Government get their dues well in time.
He said that all the categories of teachers such as PTA, PAT, Para, SMC etc., were provided with all possible benefits. He said that even during the pandemic, all the dues of the employees were provided well in time and not even a penny was deducted from the salary of the employees.
Chairperson State Hospital Red Cross Welfare Society Dr Sadhna Thakur, District Mandi NGO President Chaman Thakur, Deputy Commissioner Mandi Arindam Chaudhary, SP Shalini Agnihotri were present on the occasion among others.