Bhopal: After raining sops on ‘Adhyapaks’, the state government has once again loosened its purse strings- this time to please Panchayat Secretaries. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan panchayat secretaries at his residence on Sunday that the government had accepted all their demands.
He said that the panchayat secretaries, who have completed 10 years of service on April 1, 2018, would be given the pay-scale of Rs 5,200-Rs 20,200 with a grade pay of Rs 2,400. He said that in future, panchayat secretaries will be paid Rs 10,000 PM in the first two years of their tenure and after that, they will be entitled to the pay scale of Rs 5,200-Rs 20,200 with a grade pay of Rs 1,900.
Women panchayat secretaries will be entitled to get three months of maternity leave while their husbands will also be able to avail paternity leave of up to 15 days. They will also get 15 dayS medical leave. He also announced that from April 1, 2008, one member of the family Panchayat secretaries, who die in harness, would be entitled to getpointment on compassionate ground.
Taking a dig at former CM Digvijay Singh, Chouhan said that in 2003, when the BJP took over the reins of the state government, the panchayat secretaries were paid a paltry sum of Rs 500 PM as salary. In 2008, the amount was raised to Rs 1,200 and they were placed in a regular pay scale.
Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Gopal Bhargava said that the CM was clear that even if means slashing the allocation of budget for construction of bridges, culverts and roads, the demands of the Panchayat Secretaries should be met”.
The Panchayat secretaries were agitating for a long time. RS Julania, the former ACS of the Panchayat and Rural Development Department, was not in favour of accepting their demands. Iqbal Singh Bains, who took over as the ACS some months back, played a key-role in getting their demands accepted.
