Chennai: In what could be ‘Deepavali’ bonanza for nearly 12 lakh employees and teachers, the Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday approved the recommendations made by a panel based on the 7th Pay Commission suggestions. In addition, it decided to increase the retail price of liquor.
The government announced a manifold revision in minimum and maximum wages in line with the 7th Pay Commission. This will entail the government an additional expense of '14,719 crore annually, Mr Palaniswami informed. A high-level committee headed by finance secretary K. Shanmugam had submitted its report to the government recently.
The new wage structure was arrived at using the 2.57 multiplication factor followed by the central government, the Chief Minister said. "Accordingly, minimum wage has been determined at Rs15,700 as against the existing Rs. 6,100 while the maximum wage will be Rs. 2.25 lakh," he said in a statement here. The existing maximum wage was Rs. 77,000. The hike in various allowances include HRA were more than previous revisions, Mr Palaniswami informed.
Further, the 2.57 multiplication factor had been used to revise pension - family pension, which would be '7,850. The decision would benefit seven lakh pensioners, he added. Maximum pension would be Rs1,12,500 and family pension would be Rs 67,500, he said adding the ceiling on gratuity at the time of retirement had been increased from Rs10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.
