March 30: Central government staff may soon get the benefit of revised allowances reportedly, after the conclusion of the ongoing Budget session of Parliament on April 12. As per a media report, the finance secretary-led panel, which is giving final touches to the reworked allowances based on the 7th pay panel’s recommendations, will hold its final meeting shortly.
If a report in the Financial Express is to be believed, the panel met for over three hours on Wednesday to discuss on the matter. A source close to FE said that the decisions, taken in the meeting, will be announced only after current Budget session ends on April 12. The report also said that in the case of the employees in metro cities, the panel was considering to make HRA a little more generous than the CPC’s award. Taking note of employees’ representations, the finance secretary-led panel was looking at HRA of 30 per cent of basic pay for those in cities with a population of over 5 million, however, the CPC had recommended 24 per cent. HRA, which accounts for about 60 per cent of the total allowances bill, was 30 per cent for these cities in the Sixth CPC award period (2006-2015).
