AGARTALA, Sept 16 (TIWN): The economy of the state is almost certain to be badly hit by its utter crisis due to intentional and unscientific crisis of the state govt especially by the 'poorest Chief Minister Manik Sarkar' and his 2nd in Command Finance Minister Bhanulal Saha. It is not a surprise that the economy of the state is mostly influenced by the state govt employees. But since 1998 ( when Manik Sarkar assumed the chair of the Chief Minister of the state) the state govt employees have been facing their worst crisis ever and at present the state govt employees in Tripura are the lowest paid employees in the country. Even the matter has become a serious topic for laughter especially in some popular reality shows being telecast in satellite channels likes of KBC. With the final declaration for the implementation of recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission is due on 01/01/2016 the employees in the state are sure to be hit by their biggest crisis ever with the lowest pay structure of an employee is scheduled to be not less than Rs 21000/-(Group D employee). Recently(March 2015) Chief Minister Manik Sarkar resorted to lying in a Press Conference told the media persons ," State Govt employees will now get the benefit of Pay structure and Grade pay at par with the Central Gov't employees as per the recommendations of the 6th CPC."

But the fact is that even on this day there is huge difference between state employees and central govt employees. In all segments- DA, House Rent, Medical Allowance, Grade Pay - state employees are getting much lesser than the central govt employees.

Followings are some of the figurative descriptions of the over all deprivation now being imposed upon the state employees simply due to ' Manik Bhanu Plan ' as the employees say:-

Deprivation on DA
At present Central Gov't employees are getting 119% DA while the state govt employees are now getting only 74% DA. It means that only in DA state employees are getting less than 45% than the central govt employees. To make the matter worse it is almost certain that the Union Cabinet will soon take the decision of ' Merger of 50% DA with Basic Pay' and it will widen the gap in pay structure further more.

Deprivation on Grade Pay

1) At present a Primary Teacher(UGT)/ Lower Division Clerk is getting Rs 2200/- as Grade Pay but a Central Gov't Employee in the Sam rank is getting a Grade Pay of Rs 4200/- . It means that UGT/LDC is Tripura is deprived of Rs 2000/- per month as Grade Pay. 
2) A Graduate Teacher in Tripura is getting Grade Pay of Rs 2800/- while a Graduate Teacher of Central Gov't is having the Grade Pay of Rs 4600/- and it indicates that here the difference is Rs 1800/- 
3) A Post Graduate Teacher in Tripura is getting Grade Pay of Rs 4200/- while a Central Gov't employee in the same rank is having the Grade Pay of Rs 4800/- and here lies the difference of Rs 600/- each month only in Grade Pay. 

Deprivation of Salary as on 01/07/2015
1) After the modification of pay structure a Primary Teacher/ Lower Division Clerk is deprived of Rs 16744/- every month in compare to the Central Gov't Employees. It means yearly a state employee is suffering a loss of Rs 200928/-.
2) A Graduate Teacher is suffering a loss of Rs 17665/- per month and annually Rs 211980/-.
3) A Post Graduate Teacher suffers a loss of Rs 15635/- per month and every year he has to suffer a loss of Rs 187620/-. 

Projected Grade Pay of 7th CPC
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7th Pay Commission has recommended the Grade Pay as per following categories:-
1) A UGT/LDC will get a Grade Pay of Rs 12600/-( 4200 in 6th CPC)
2) A Graduate Teacher will have a Grade Pay of Rs 13800/-(4600/- in 6th CPC)
3) A Post Graduate Teacher will have a Grade Pay of Rs 14400/-( Rs 4800/- in 6th CPC). 
      Tripura Govt Employees' Co-ordination Committee Chief Biswas is true when he told TIWN," In 1972 when CPI-M party was not accepted by the bulk of population in Bengalee dominated ares , state gov't employees in Tripura played a crucial role to make an impact on behalf of CPI-M. But with the passage of time when Manik Sarkar became the Chief Minister, he made deprivation a permanent. As such going against the policy of the Leftist Manik Sarkar through Cabinet resolution made recruitment of employees under Fixed Pay system a rule and its purely undemocratic and an instance of exploitation. Indeed, when a ruler becomes a dictator, deprivation becomes inevitable. " Biswas further said even Nripen Chakraborty recruited more than 200 employees under Fixed Pay system. But in the CPI-M State committee meeting it was opposed.

Somehow Nripen Chakraborty lobby had the advantage due to number game. But when Ajay Biswas(then a Central Committee member and CPI-M MP) raised the issue in the CPI-M Central Committee meeting, party Central Committee instructed Nripen Chakraborty(the then Chief Minister of Tripura) to change decision. And returning to state Chakraborty was compelled to make all these employees regular. Unfortunately, during these days in CPI-M party no one is there to raise question against Manik Sarkar as the number politics is with him and no one likes to remove his name from the 'Manik's Good Book'. 

What the common mass is afraid is that inspire of being an employees' organization H B Road leaders are playing like puppets in the hands of Melarmath lobby.

As such a large section of employees are now merging with BJP's Employees wing Tripura Karmachari Mahasangha. One of them (unwilling to reveal his name) told TIWN," We are living in a state where even the Chief Minister can speak lies in official Press Meet . So one can easily imagine that unless you become a blind puppet of ruling party you cant enjoy your democratic rights fully. Though bulk of employees(moat unwillingly) come under the flag of H B Road , their basic demands are not satisfied. Simply because of the fear of being transferred , none raise voice". 

Gov't of Tripura already deprived the state employees for the last ten years by means of its unscientific and shrewdly designed policy of "Pay Review " instead of Pay Commission. Now ahead of the implementation of proposals of 7th CPC almost all the states including the North Eastern states already informed the Centre in writing that they will not constitute any separate Pay Commission; rather they will implement the proposals of 7th CPC at par with the centre. But here again state gov't is unwilling to do the same. Mysteriously Manik ruled gov't in Tripura seems to be busy in making policies to retain the deprivation as permanent. As such even after repeated requests state gov't has not responded promptly to the 14th Finance Commission though the Finance Commission has come with liberal attitude sanctioning unprecedented fund during its term. But the attitude of Team Manik and his 2nd in Command Bhanu is quite different. Interestingly even the then CPIM ruled states (in 2006) like Kerala and West Bengal too had given benefits of 6th CPC at par with the Centre. But Tripura alone will walk beyond such line simply due to its negative and anti-employees attitude.