Guwahati, Aug. 20: Families of the Assam government employees, who die in harness, will continue to get their salaries till the date on which the workers would have superannuated had they been alive.
Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said the state government will introduce the Compassionate Family Pension Scheme, replacing the existing policy of making appointments on compassionate grounds.
"If an employee dies before his or her superannuation, the family pension, which will be equal to the pay drawn by the deceased employee, will be paid till the date of his deemed superannuation, which is the date on which the employee would have retired," Sarma said. "As part of the proposed scheme, the families will also continue to get the increments and other benefits entitled to employee had he been alive."
The scheme will be applicable to those employees who died/die in harness on or after April 1, 2017.
"This would compensate the loss of family income to a large extent and fulfil the requirement of providing jobs on compassionate grounds that arise owing to death of serving employees," he said.
The existing appointment policy on compassionate grounds is not serving the purpose since several times the legal heir of the deceased employees fail to get an appointment because of certain difficulties such as lack of required educational qualification and non-availability of vacancies.
"After receiving compl-aints from the parents or other eligible family members of the deceased that they are not being looked after by the pensioner, the competent authority will issue orders apportioning the compassionate family pension among all eligible family members," he said.
The draft guidelines of the scheme have been uploaded in the finance department's website where the state government employees can also share their comments and feedback by August 27 so that the final scheme can be notified at the earliest.
Sarma said the Assam Employees Parental Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring Bill, 2017, will be introduced in the Assembly session next month. The bill proposes deduction of between 10 and 15 per cent salary of those state government employees who failed to take care of their elderly parents. The deducted amount will be transferred to the bank accounts of their parents.
"The population policy of the state will also be tabled in the next Assembly session," Sarma, who also holds the health and education portfolios, said.
"From the education department, four bills will be introduced in the Assembly to set up four new universities, Bhattadev University at Bajali, Madhabdev University at Bihpuria, Rabindra Nath Tagore University at Hojai and Assam Cultural University at Majuli," he said.
The minister said the government will sanction new posts of teaching and non-teaching staff so that89 colleges across the state that have a single stream of faculty like either science or arts, can introduce more streams.
"This initiative will address the issue of shortage of seats in colleges," he said.