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Pay commission may report in mid-Jan

Salary structure not yet decided

Staff Correspondent
The National Pay Commission is currently considering five different models of government employees’ salary structure and is likely to present its recommendations to the government in mid-January.
Upon receiving the commission’s report, the finance ministry will form a committee to scrutinise it and supervise its speedy implementation, sources at the ministry said.
"But, whensoever the government announces the new pay structure, it will be effective retrospectively from January 1, 2005," said a finance ministry official.
The commission members in a meeting yesterday discussed a rough draft of its report that has not yet proposed any salary structure, commission sources said. The members were asked for their opinions on the draft.
The meeting decided to complete report drafting within this
month accommodating the members’ opinions, and the commission will outline a pay structure in early January. In case of a delay due to any unforeseen reason, tire commission will finish its task by early February, the sources said.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday a pay commission member categorically dismissed some reports run in some dailies that a pay structure has been proposed. "We have not outlined any salary structure. We could not even finish our draft report yet," he said.
Earlier this week, some newspapers reported that the commission has recommended Tk 27,000 as the highest monthly salary, which is Tk 15,000 at present.
The Daily Star also has received a leaflet claiming to have been signed by the commission's member secretary, Khandkcr Rashedul Haq, and requesting the media to publish its content. The leaflet shows the highest proposed pay in Grade 1 as Tk
24,000 and the lowest in Grade 20 as Tk3,000.
Government employees are paid in 20 different salary grades.
When contacted Rashedul Haq denied outlining such a salary structure. "This is a report commissioned by those who had printed it in the newspapers," he quipped.
Sources said the finance ministry earlier had told the pay commission to formulate a salary structure that is affordable for the government.
In deciding an affordable salary structure, the commission is looking into a range of factors, particularly the growth of revenue collection, possibilities of increased revenue growth through sealing off collection leakage, inflation and ability of the government.
It also is considering what should be the salaries if the employees paid their own taxes instead of the government paying for them.
The commission may suggest the
government to provide its employees with transport and maintenance allowances instead of providing transport, as most of the huge expenditure attributed to government transports is suspected to be results of organised corruption and leakage of petroleum.
The government increased its staff salaries last in 1997 putting the lowest monthly basic scale at Tk 1,500 and the highest at Tk 15,000. The previous pay structure of 1991 put the lowest basic al Tk 1,000 and the highest atTk 10,000. In the pay struc-ture of 1985, the lowest was Tk 500 and the highest wasTk6,000.
"It shows a trend where the government increases salaries by a maximum of Tk 5,000," noted a pay commission member. "This trend may persist."
Presently the government annually spends about Tk 8,500 crore, or nearly 25 percent of its revenue budget, for salaries.
If the trend continues in the upcoming change in salary structure, it would increase the spending by another Tk 4,000 to 5000 crore. "The commission is considering this as an issue," the member added.
This could mean the highest monthly basic pay would stand at around I’k21,000 loTk22,00 0.
The commission is also likely to push forward a permanent formula to periodically adjust salaries on the basis of biennial economic analyses.
What has been practised so far is that the government appoints a pay commission following pressure from its employees. "Instead, under this formula, the government will assign economists to analysis economy and adjust salaries," the member explained.
Sources said the pay commission received huge feedback to its announcement seeking people's opinions on the salary structure. Besides, it also gathered opinions of top officials including the Bangladesh Bank governor, chairman of National Board of Revenue and bankers.
One of the strongest recommendations that came from the respondents is for a separate salary structure for professionals like police,’tax and customs officials, and bankers;