Tarun Gogoi, Himanta Biswa Sarma have cheated employees: AGP

GUWAHATI, Dec 25: The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) today came down heavily on the State Government for ‘‘cheating’’ the State Government employees on pay revision and ‘‘misleading’’ the State Assembly on the issue, thereby ‘‘lowering the dignity’’ of the august House.

Talking to newsmen in Guwahati today, AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary said: “Over the past few years, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had been assuring the State Government employees of paying them at least a rupee more in their salary package than their Central Government counterparts, but while approving the Sixth Assam Pay Commission recommendations, the Cabinet led by him forgot that assurance. The revised salary of State Government employees approved by the Government is much less than that of their Central Government counterparts.”

“When the Opposition parties put pressure on the State Government to make its stand on the pay parity demand of the employees clear on the floor of the State Assembly in its recent session, both Gogoi and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the financial position of the Government was so sound that it would pay its employees at least a rupee more than their Central Government counterparts. Sarma even went to the extent of telling a private TV channel that by paying the State Government employees a rupee more than their Central Government counterparts, the government will throw shoe on the face of the AGP,” Patowary said, and added: “Gogoi and Sarma not only cheated the State Government employees, but also misled the august Assembly and thus lowered its dignity.”

According to Patowary, going by the revised pay structure, the State Government employees will get 1.39 per cent to 59.92 per cent less salary than their Central Government counterparts. “The worst affected are the teachers. While the government primary teachers of the State will get at least Rs 600 less basic and grade pay than their Central Government counterparts, graduate teachers will get 40.74 per cent less than their counterparts under the Central Government,” Patowary said, and demanded of the State Government to pay at least a rupee more to its employees than their Central Government counterparts and make the report of the empowered committee that examined the recommendations of the Sixth State Pay Commission public. “If the State Government can’t take such a step, it will be proved beyond doubt that Gogoi’s claim over fiscal position over the years is a farce,” he added. THE SENTINEL