BENGALURU: Pushing for better pay, the Karnataka State Government Employees’ Association has constituted an internal committee to study the difference in their salaries, as compared to Union Government employees. The committee, which includes retired employees who had worked for the Pay Commissions, hopes to submit its report to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in a month.
The report is expected to give complete data and a comparison of salaries in various cadres between state and central government employees. This apart, it will also highlight the salary structure of employees in other states as well as high court staffers in Karnataka. Over 5.3 lakh regular employees and 1.5 lakh contractual staffers work in the 72 departments of the State Government which include agriculture, Home, urban development, health, tourism, education, food and civil supplies, power, water resources, excise, medical education, etc.
Association president C S Shadakshari told The New Indian Express that as against 7.7 lakh sanctioned posts, there are 5.4 lakh staffers working. Due to the large number of vacancies, the burden on the existing staff has increased in some departments, he pointed out. According to Shadakshari, while a Group-D employee with the State Government gets Rs 25,000 per month, a Central Government employee gets Rs 36,000. Similarly, a first division assistant in the State Government gets Rs 40,000 while an FDA with the Central Government earns Rs 55,000 per month.
“There is a difference of anywhere between Rs 6,000 and Rs 40,000 across cadres. The state employees do the same kind of work, put in the same efforts, but their salaries are less,’’ he said. Further, he pointed out that 22 states including Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and other states have brought state government employees’ salaries on par with Central Government employees. “Karnataka is among the few states where government employees get lower salaries. We are therefore demanding the government to bring it on par with central government employees,’’ he said. “We hope the CM will announce the same in the next budget,’’ he added.