7th CPC Proposes, Govt Disposes: Cycle allowance, funeral allowance etc. to continue

IF YOU thought the government blindly followed the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) recommendations in abolishing allowances, you could be wrong. Let’s first take this example: Central Pay Commission said, abolish cycle allowance. The government said “no”. The cycle allowances will not only be retained but it was also directed that the existing rate of allowances would be increased from Rs 90 to Rs 180 per month. Similarly, the 7th CPC recommended funeral allowance to be abolished. The government retained it but yes, changed its…

name to “funeral expense”. Also, the funeral expense rate was enhanced from Rs 6,000 to Rs 9,000. According to rules, when a defence personnel dies in peace areas, a funeral allowance of Rs 6,000 was granted and mortuary charges are reimbursed. A number of associations demanded to extend the allowance to all civilian employees and also for a four-fold increase in rates. But the 7th CPC recommended its abolition saying “this kind of an allowance has lost its meaning”.

Then in case of travelling allowance, 7th CPC asked the Indian Railways to reconsider its position regarding air travel to its employees in light of the possible savings in terms of cost and man-hours, particularly after the pay revision as recommended by the Commission. “The fact that additional seats will be released in trains for the public will be an added advantage”, 7th CPC report said. But the Central government after deliberations decided to continue with the existing system for the railways. 
The government, however, went along with the 7th CPC in abolishing a number of allowances which lost their relevance at the current circumstances. For example, the government has accepted the 7th CPC’s recommendation of abolition of allowances such as diet allowance, family planning allowance (up to Rs 1,000 for Central government employees as an encouragement to adhere to small family norms), flying squad allowance, handicapped allowance (granted to differently abled employees in Indian Railways) etc.