Karnataka Govt Employees Demand Pay Hike on Par with Central Govt Staff

Bengaluru: Karnataka State Government Employees Association (KSGEA) has requested the Karnataka State Sixth Pay Commission to recommend an immediate 30 percent hike in pay scales for the state government employees as an interim relief.

Addressing a press conference on Friday after presenting the association’s set of demands, KSGEA president BP Manje Gowda said, “we have requested the commission to provide the hike in salaries with retrospective effect from April 1, 2017. If you compare the salary structure between state and central government employees, you will be shocked to know that the pay disparity is as high as 51 to 135 percent in favour of Central government employees.”

“However, the sad part is that the employees of Karnataka government are paid lowest even in comparison with other state governments. Based on our study, we found out that Andhra Pradesh state government employees were drawing a salary of 25-65 pc higher than our state, while Kerala government employees’ salary was also at a higher scale of 51-56 pc more than us,” Gowda pointed out.  

“If you look at the state government’s revenue spent on government employees’ welfare, salary and perks, AP and Kerala were spending 30.58 pc and 28.77 pc of their revenues respectively, while in Karnataka, the spending was a mere 17.54 pc. As the cost of living has gone up drastically, we have requested the pay commission to recommend state government to provide a good hike on par with the Central government employees,” he said.

Manje Gowda also stated that the Karnataka State Government Employees’ Association was the only organisation truly representing all the government employees in Karnataka. The association has been fighting for the rights of the employees and has been demanding that the state government employees are paid on par with the central government employees.

Following the consistent requests, chief minister Siddaramaiah has constituted the sixth pay commission under the chairmanship of the retired IAS officer MR Sreenivasamurthy, Gowda added.