January 6, Karnali: The Karnali provincial government has started a “special encouragement allowance’ to the employees working in the province. The main reason for this allowance distribution is to resolve the long-standing problem of employee shortage in Karnali.
The provincial Cabinet meeting held last week decided to provide the ‘special encouragement allowance’ to the government employees for effective and efficient administration. The allowance ranges from Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 10,000 based on geographical remoteness of the district where the employees have been posted.
Karnali, the remotest of seven federal units in the country, has been reeling under an acute shortage of government employees. According to the Office of Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, 1,213 civil service posts are vacant currently in the post.
The Chief Secretary of the Karnali provincial government, Mr. Kebal Prasad Bhandari said that various allowances had been managed to encourage employees working in the province and the decision will be implemented from January 15.
The government has classified all 10 districts of Karnali into four geographical regions. An employee working in Surkhet will receive Rs. 4,000 special encouragement allowance per month while the employee will get a monthly allowance of Rs. 6,000 in Salyan, Rukum (West), Jajarkot and Dailekh. The encouragement allowance in Kalikot and Jumla is Rs.8, 000 and the amount is Rs. 10,000 in Mugu, Dolpa, and Humla.
As per the Cabinet’s decision, all the employees of different levels receive a similar allowance. However, the rate of allowance is different for the employees of the health sector. The specialist doctor of the 11th level will receive a 75 percent to 135 percent allowance of the basic salary in different districts. Similarly, the specialist doctor of ninth and tenth levels will receive 75 to 125 percent. The health workers up to the eighth level will get 50 to 100 percent allowance based on the districts where they work.
The lack of employees is the main reason behind the low budget expenditure and Bhandari expresses his hope that the special encouragement allowance would attract the employees to work in Karnali.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
