Power dept pay revision: Bengal govt to bear additional Rs 450cr burden

The West Bengal government will have to bear an additional financial burden of Rs 450 crore annually in lieu of the revised pay structure for employees of the state's power department and related entities, a minister said on Saturday. About 20,000 employees will be benefited from the pay revision, state power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said.

"Today, I have approved the new pay structure of employees of West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd. The revised pay scale for a staff of other entities like West Bengal Power Development Corporation and West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Corporation and Durgapur Projects Ltd will be similar to WBSEDCL," he said. The announcement comes ahead of the elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and 107 other civic bodies of the state, which are likely to be held in mid-April. "The financial benefit to the employees will be effective from January 1, 2020," Chattopadhyay said.

The pay structure remains similar to the state government's policy, which will be computed on the basis of basic and grade pay, the minister said. Some of the other benefits that the power department employees enjoy will continue, he added.