In an attempt to improve the government's image, Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced 4 per cent Dearness Allowance (DA) for the employees and pensioners of the state, benefitting 1.80 lakh employees and 1.70 lakh pensioners from January 1, 2023, thereby bearing an extra burden of Rs 600 crore per year on the state exchequer.
In addition to this, the Chief Minister announced that the employees and pensioners will receive their November salary and pension on 28th October ahead of Deepawali.
Talking to media persons here today, Sukhu announced to clear all the pending medical bills of employees and retirees for which a provision of Rs. 10 crores has already been made.
He directed the concerned departments to clear all the pending medical bills this month and an adequate budget will be provided to the departments for this as per their demand.
He also announced to pay the entire full amount of pending arrears to all pensioners above 75 years of age.
The Chief Minister said that a total of Rs. 202 crore would be spent in this financial year over the salary and pension arrears.
He also announced that an additional instalment of arrears amounting to Rs 20,000 for class-IV employees will be released to them in this fiscal itself.
He said Himachal Pradesh will be self-reliant by 2027 and there was no such financial crunch as being propagated in the media by the National and the state BJP leaders. He took a jibe at the leader of the Opposition for spreading lies about the financial status of the state and even misleading the Prime Minister and BJP national President. He said that BJP has left no stone unturned in spreading misinformation about the State's fiscal health.
He said the payment of the due amount of the employees including DA and arrears was testimony to the fact that the state government was committed to addressing the grievances of its employees and there was no such financial crunch as of now.
Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Health Minister Dr. (Col) Dhani Ram Shandil, MLA Harish Janartha, Media Advisor to the Chief Minister Naresh Chauhan, Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena, Principal Secretary Finance Devesh Kumar, Secretary to Chief Minister Rakesh Kanwar, Director IPR, Rajiv Kumar amongst others were also present on the occasion.
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