7th Pay Commission: UP govt forms committee to look into recommendations

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to constitute a committee to look into the Seventh Central Pay Commission's recommendations.

The committee will study the recommendations with regard to salaries, pensions, allowances and other benefits of state government employees and submit its suggestions, said an official spokesman.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has been authorised to appoint the chairman of the committee, he said, adding that the Finance Secretary and representatives nominated by principal secretaries of planning and personnel departments will be its members.

The committee will forward its suggestions within six months, keeping in mind the state's financial resources and commitments towards development, said the spokesman.

The Cabinet also approved a project to run 170 mobile medical units on public-private-partnership (PPP) basis, he said, adding that each unit will have two vehicles, doctors, pharmacists, nurses and laboratory technicians.

Besides administering first aid, the units will screen patients for communicable diseases, perform basic laboratory tests and carry out immunisation drives.

The project will be run in 36 districts, including Saharanpur, Rampur, Bareilly, Badaun, Etah, Kasganj, Kannauj, Lucknow, Kanpur and Varanasi among others.

In yet another important decision, the Cabinet approved the Samajwadi Hathkargha Bunkar Pension scheme under which weavers over 60 years of age will get a monthly pension of Rs 500.

For the first year, Rs 30 crore have been earmarked while for the latter stages, budgetary allocation will be made in proportion with the number of beneficiaries, said the spokesman, adding that the pension amount will be directly deposited to their bank accounts through RTGS.

The Cabinet also decided to increase the retirement age of regular employees of Uttar Pradesh Waqf Development Corporation from 58 to 60 years which would result in an additional burden of Rs 15,73,660 which will be borne by the corporation, he said.

In another important decision, the Cabinet gave its nod to relax rules under the Rapid Financial Development scheme for laying sewage and drainage pipelines in the masterplan of Saifai, the native village of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, he added.

It was decided to provide a financial assistance of around Rs 10.8 crore from the scheme, as recommended by the Expenditure Committee, for the sewage and drainage scheme in Saifai as an exception.