Panel to cut proposed salary for higher rungs

The secretary-level review committee on the Pay Commission is set to cut the recommended salary for the higher rungs of the pay structure and increase that for the lower grades to add a populist hue.
The committee, which will submit its report to the cabinet for approval by this month, will also suggest cutting allowance from the recommended structure to reduce costs.
The commission, led by Mohammed Farashuddin, submitted the report to Finance Minister AMA Muhith on December 21 last year. On December 31, a secretary-level committee was formed led by Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan to further review the recommendations.
The committee is expected to bring slight changes to the commission's recommendations so that the government's expenditure decreases by Tk 1,500 crore-Tk 2,000 crore, a finance ministry official said. 
To fully implement the commission's recommendations, an additional Tk 22,953 crore would be required, of which Tk 17,464 crore would be salary for public servants, according to the report.
The Pay Commission has recommended doubling the salaries of public servants on average, the full implementation of which would raise the government spending on salary and allowance by 63.7 percent.
The salary of the bottom three grades of the 16 may be raised by Tk 50-Tk 100. The commission recommended Tk 8,200 as salary for those in the lowest grade.
The salaries of joint secretaries and above would be cut by Tk 3,000-Tk 10,000 from the recommended figures, an official said. 
As per the commission's recommendations, the officials of these grades would receive Tk 70,000 to Tk 1 lakh.
The officials in the review committee said there will be no change in the salary recommended by the commission for the mid-level tier.
The commission also recommended increasing the 20 to 22 types of allowances that the government staff receive. But the review committee is likely to slash these allowances to minimise the government expenditure. An official of the review committee said they will suggest implementation of most of the recommendations of the commission. 
For example, the commission has made some extraordinary recommendations to provide loans to government staff so that each of them can own a flat or house, and to introduce health or accident insurance, which the review committee will also endorse.
The commission has recommended abolition of selection grade and time-scale for government employees. Instead, it suggested an annual increment on a perpetual increase basis. The review committee may propose to the government to accept the recommendation. The commission is still in a dilemma over its suggestion of 16 grades in place of 20.
The official said the recommendations would be made following the directives from the government high-ups.
The committee will suggest implementation of the recommendations in two phases. In the first phase, which will kick off on July 1, only the increased salary will be paid. In the second phase, which will take effect from fiscal 2016-17, the improved allowances and other add-ons will be given. 
The Finance Division has prepared an estimated budget of nearly Tk 300,000 crore for the next fiscal year, where allocation has been made for increasing salaries of the staff.
The current pay scale was implemented in 2009, four years after the previous one. The new pay scale comes into force in a span of six years.