United News of Bangladesh

The government has not yet made any decision regarding the allocation of dearness allowance (DA) for its officials and employees, said Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Tuesday. "We have not made any decision regarding the dearness allowance yet," he told journalists in response to questions about the ongoing deliberations, after a meeting of the Advisors' Council Committee on Government Purchase (ACCGP) at the Secretariat. When asked whether the government was reconsidering its stance on the DA, the finance adviser asked, "Who made the announcement about the dearness allowance? I don’t know who made the announcement. Once it comes to the Ministry of Finance, then we will decide whether to give it or not, and only then will we make the announcement." Make NBR more efficient for robust growth in business: Finance Adviser Sought comments on whether a proposal has been forwarded to the Ministry of Finance, Dr Salehuddin said, "We haven’t made any announcement yet. I have not made any decision yet." The Finance Ministry had recently prepared a draft proposal to provide a Dearness Allowance ranging from a minimum of 10% to a maximum of 20% of basic salaries for 1.45 million government employees. The proposal also included the recommendation to exclude the additional 5% annual increment for employees. According to the Finance Ministry’s calculations, implementing the DA would cost at least Tk 5,000 crore in a single fiscal year. Finance Adviser urges media to take positive stance on national issues To lower the expenditure, the proposal suggested giving a maximum of 20% DA to employees in grades 11 to 20, while those in grades 1 to 10 would receive either 10% or 15%. Should the DA for grades 1 to 10 be set at 10%, it would require over Tk 5,000 crore. If it were set at 15%, the cost would rise slightly to about TK 5,750 crore. The Finance Ministry has proposed to include this amount in the revised budget.

Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed has assured that the reasonable overtime demands of railway employees have been met, with other claims now under the purview of the relevant ministry. “We have addressed the logical demands of railway employees a while ago. Despite this, if they are still aggrieved, it is their matter to address,” he said on Tuesday in response to a question from reporters regarding budgetary allocations for railways. Railway Adviser urges running staff to end strike as discussions continue The adviser said if any logical requests reach the Ministry of Finance, they will not be denied. After a meeting of the Advisors' Council Committee on Government Purchase (ACCGP) , Dr Ahmed emphasised the importance of resolving issues affecting employment on humanitarian grounds. “Employees often present multiple demands. Among them were requests for overtime allowances. We have fulfilled what was feasible, granting reasonable benefits. Other claims will now be reviewed by the concerned ministry. Should any justifiable issues come to us, the Ministry of Finance will act accordingly, particularly if they involve humanitarian or employment-related concerns,” he said. When asked about past allocations and any new demands made, Dr Ahmed said, “Several organisations have similar demands. For railways, we resolved the overtime issue. However, if there are calls for additional benefits like pension gratuity, similar demands exist for other sectors as well.”