The Punjab Government has issued an order to give conveyance and special allowance to all its employees who come in the grade of senior assistant, clerk, senior stenographer and stenographer. According to an official order, issued by the Finance Department, employees would get the benefit of `480 as special allowance and Rs `400 to `600 as conveyance allowance.
The field employees were demanding conveyance allowance for a long time. Their demand was accepted when a little over six months are left for the State elections. "The Government will have to bear around `50 crore per annum in order to disburse these allowances to its employees," said a senior Government official, adding, the decision has been taken to help employees do their duty diligently.
As the Assembly election draws close and only eight months remain, the ruling SAD-BJP Government does not want to leave any stone unturned with respect to increasing its vote bank by announcing various schemes for the welfare of their employees. The ruling alliance will be taking on a resurgent Congress in the polls. The Government had already announced a special pay scale for the Punjab Civil Service officer to achieve the Assembly goal. Since the Punjab Civil Services do not have any fixed criteria for promotion, a special pay scale has been decided to apply into their monthly salary. A file has been prepared and is ready to be placed before the Cabinet.
Besides, promotion to the post of Special Secretary is also in the pipeline for PCS officers. A few days ago, the Government had released an order which says the Punjab PCS officers can be promoted to Special Secretary during their tenure if it crosses 18 years. Earlier, a PCS officer could only hold a joint secretary's post in Punjab Government and retired in the same post.
