J&K SAC approves additional installment of DA to State govt employees

What comes as a Diwali good news for lakhs of government servants, the State Administrative Council of Jammu and Kashmir headed by Governor Satya Pal Malik has accorded sanction to the release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to state government employees and pensioners from July 1, 2019. This represents an increase of 5% over the existing rate of 12% of the basic pay/pension. The Dearness Allowance (DA) is a cost of living adjustment allowance paid to government employees, public sector employees (PSE) and pensioners.

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The decision will benefit around 4.5 lakh state government employees and 1.6 lakh J&K government pensioners. Meanwhile, the impact on the state exchequer on account of enhancement of DA would be Rs 725 crores for the financial year 2019-20. Earlier, the central government had approved the proposal of payment of all 7th Central Pay Commission allowances to the government employees of Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh, which shall come into existence from 31st October 2019.

Going digital

In a bid to propel development in Jammu and Kashmir, following the contentious abrogation of Article 370 and the subsequent communication blackout, the state administration constituted a 10-member sub-committee to suggest measures to encourage digitization of payments and enhance financial inclusion. The order said the panel will also suggest a mechanism for monitoring of P2P points, debit card floats and point of sale positioning to enhance effectiveness of digital financial architecture, outline steps for monitoring of Government to Merchant (G2M), Government to Person (G2P), Person to Government (P2G) and Merchant to Government (M2G) transactions, assess levels of digitisation and find solutions to increase the same.

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7th Pay Commission in J&K

Though the 7th pay Commission was implemented in Jammu and Kashmir by the previous PDP-BJP coalition government in April 2018, some of the allowances to which the Central Government employees were entitled to, had been left out. Now all these allowances which include Children Education Allowance, Hostel Allowance, Transport Allowance, Leave Travel Concession, Fixed Medical Allowance etc have been extended in favour of the employees of Jammu and Kashmir Government who will now become employees of two Union Territories. This decision will cost the central Government an additional burden of Rs 4,800 crore annually.

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