7th Pay Commission – Allowances delay because of ‘Bureaucratic, Political Intervention Required’ – Shiv Gopal Mishra

Almost 10 months have been passed and the ‘Committee on Allowance’ is yet to submit its report on minimum wages and higher allowance under the 7th Pay Commission to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. A large number of Central Government employees have been eagerly waiting for the higher allowances and are also upset as there is no news on the minimum wage hike.

The National Joint Council of Action (NJCA), which is leading the negotiation on behalf of central government employees, believe that the bureaucratic clutches has become one of the biggest reason for the delay in fulfilment of the demands and believe that political intervention is required.

The National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) chief Shiv Gopal Mishra said, that a vast majority of central government employees are upset with the Ashok Lavasa Committee who had not yet submitted its final report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. “Once the report is submitted to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley then only any action can be taken by the government. The government can’t is blamed for the delay,” Shiv Gopal Mishra said.

When asked whether ministers are to be blamed for the non-fulfillment of the demands, Shiv Gopal Mishra said, “We are not blaming the ministers for the delay in fulfilment of our demands. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley could only approve our report if the bureaucrats submit it on time.

The delay is causing frustration among the employees. How long should they wait? We are persuading the ministers to intervene. We have already met Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, we were not able to meet Mr Arun Jaitley due to the Budget Session and if required we will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well”.

Last week, the NJCA convenor was quoted by a news organisation where he said, “We believe in Prime Minister Narendra Modi he is our last hope”. In the video, Shiv Gopal Mishra also claimed that a large number of central government employees have hopes with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that he will not take any confrontation with the government employees. “To maintain a good industrial relation in the country, PM Modi will find a good negotiative settlement for us,” Mishra reportedly said.

Meanwhile, some reports suggest that the Ashok Lavasa committee examining 7th Pay Commission recommendations on allowances has reached the final stage of preparing its report, which will be submitted to the government soon, a top union official was quoted by NDTV. Around 43 lakh central government employees have been eagerly waiting for the higher allowance.

Source: India.com