25% salary hike for fair price shop employees

A whopping 25% increase in salary of fair price shop employees across Tamil Nadu was announced by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Sunday. A dearness allowance (DA) of 63% would be calculated on the revised pay. The upward revision will come into effect immediately, said a press release. The hike would cost the government Rs 51.65 crore.

The announcement comes in the wake of recommendations made by an expert panel set up to advise on pay scale revision for these employees. There are 32,219 fair price shops in the state, tasked with the job of selling basic commodities to the poorer section of the society. About 21,779 salespersons and 3,556 builders work in these fair price shops that function via cooperative societies that come under the cooperation department.

The consolidated pay of sales staff in the fair price shops currently getting Rs.4000 in the first year will now get Rs 5000. Masons drawing Rs.3,500 during the first year will get Rs.4,250. After the first year, the salespersons and the builders are placed in a pay scale ranging between Rs.3,300 and Rs.8,000 and Rs.3,000 and Rs.7,000 respectively. This pay scale has now been revised to Rs.4300-Rs.12,000 for sales staff, and builders have been placed in the scale ranging between Rs.3,900-Rs,11,000.

The Dearness Allowance (DA) and other perks such as city compensatory allowance have also been announced. A fair price shop allowance of Rs.1000 for the salespersons and Rs.500 for the builders has been fixed for Chennai city and other corporations while Rs.750 and Rs.375 is fixed for the salespersons and builders in other places said the press release. Both categories are eligible for a medical allowance of Rs 100 rupees a month.