7th Pay commission: Central government employees may get this massive new gain soon

7th Pay commission: Central government employees may well have another reason to celebrate soon if things go according to the plans. Although Centre, at the moment, appears not ready to agree to the demands of central government employees seeking hike in minimum pay and fitment factor beyond the recommendations of the 7th pay commission report, but things may be changing bit by bit. The present dispensation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to compensate them another way. There are reports that Centre may allow its employees to even go on foreign junkets through their Leave Travel Concession (LTC).

According to top officials, the central government is toying with the idea to allow its staff to go abroad on the basis of their LTC, and a proposal in this regard has been finalised by the Personnel Ministry. The ministry has reportedly sought comments from other departments concerned including Home, Tourism, Civil Aviation and Expenditure “at the earliest possible”. However, no word is forthcoming on 7th Pay Commission as yet.

The plan, mooted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), proposes to include five central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — under the LTC scheme. The move is aimed at increasing India’s footprint in the strategically important Central Asian region, the officials reportedly said.

Earlier in March, the government had stated that it has shelved a proposal to allow LTC to its employees to visit SAARC countries. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a group of eight nations comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Notably, the LTC allows grant of leave and ticket reimbursement to eligible central government employees. Meanwhile, this development is likely to please the Central government employees, however they would still prefer that their 7th pay commission based demands be fulfiled rather than taking half-steps. At the moment, expectations are that the government may soon make a big announcement.