Pay hike: UPA ploy to woo yet another voting class?

ALL TALK? Government employees are not sure how much of the pay hike is going to translate into actual money.

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Commission had earlier recommended pay for armed forces be hiked by 1.74 times.

• Salary hike 'peanuts', Govt employees cry foul
• Sixth Pay Commission: Highlights and pay scales

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• I-Day bonanza: Govt may approve pay panel report
• Salary hike 'peanuts', Govt employees cry foul
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Keywords: , Central Government

New Delhi: The Sixth Pay Commission submitted its final recommendations to the government on Monday suggesting a 100 per cent increase in allowance and a 40 per cent hike in the salaries of Central Government employees with effect from January 1, 2006.

"If you count the percentage wise hike from the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, it would be about 40 per cent,” confirms Chairman Sixth Pay Commission Justice B N Srikrishna.

But the government employees are not sure how much of this hike is going to translate into actual money.

“It is still very speculative. Nothing can be said for sure right now,” says a skeptical government employee. Another adds, “People have very high expectations but the inflation has already increased so much.”

The timing of this report is crucial keeping the General Elections as well as the 10 states that slated to go to polls in the next two years in mind.

So after the Rs 60,000-crore farm loan waiver, the focus for the UPA has now shifted to another set of voters — more than four million Central Government employees.

The Congress, however, is trying to play down the political advantage.

“We have had such commissions almost every 10-12 years with regularity and this is nothing but an additional piece in that continuous chain,” defends Congress Spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

The question over where the money will come from also remains.

“We are unaware of what they actually want to do. Is it just an election ploy or do they really want to abate the financial distress being faced by our common man?” questions BJP Spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudi.

The last time the Pay Commission happened, which was in the 90s, several states went bankrupt. For the moment though, the Centre is looking at a wage bill of Rs 30,000 crore including arrears.