Finance Minister AMA Muhith Friday said that a Permanent Pay Commission for the government employees would be announced Sunday. The minister gave this assurance at a function organized by the Bangladesh Audit and Accounts Officers’ Association at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital. Muhith said that the government had brought some reforms in the extant salary structure of the government employees. Earlier on October 6, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had announced a flat 20 per cent rise in dearness allowance (DA) for the government employees. She had also announced her government’s plan to form a Permanent Pay Commission with the next national election around the corner.
On October 30, the Finance Minister had said the pay commission would be announced by the middle of November for 1.3 million government employees. A separate body called ‘Pay and Services Commission’ would also be formed to spot the disparities among various government cadres and services, Muhith had said, adding that the Pay Commission Chairman would also head the ‘Pay and Services Commission’ which would last for six months.
The government had issued a gazette notification the next day, granting DA with retrospective effect from July 1. The 7th Pay Commission was formed in 2007 during the caretaker regime, and government employees last received a hike in pay on July 1, 2009. The total number of government officials and employees are 13 lakh across the country. Of them, about 11 lakh employees are active.
-With The Independent input
