The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The government’s pay revision report has also revised the various allowances, benefits and entitlements for both politicians and bureaucrats.
The government has hiked the Daily Allowance (DA) for in country travels and also Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) for travels to India and other third countries.
The DA has been hiked by 87 percent to 233 percent with higher percentage increases at the lower level. This means that for civil servants from the S1 to S4 level it has increased from Nu 300 to Nu 750, for P5 to P1 level it has increased from Nu 500 to Nu 1,000.
The DSA for India has been hiked from 63 percent to 150 percent with higher increases at the lower levels.
The gratuity ceiling has been revised from Nu 900,000 to Nu 1.5 mn.
The travel allowance or mileage has been increased from Nu 14 per km to Nu 16 per km.
Civil servants instead of getting a vehicle quota every seven years will now instead get a fixed amount of Nu 160,000 in lieu of the quota. This is to prevent the sale of quotas which according to finance officials leads to more vehicle imports.
Talking of vehicles the one time Nu 700,000 grant to MPs to buy vehicles has now been increased by Nu 300,000 to Nu 1 mn.
For Gups the annual lump sum TA/DA for travelling inside the gewog has been increased from Nu 6,000 to Nu 18,000 while for Mangmis it has been increased from Nu 4,500 to Nu 13,500.
The government has increased the difficulty area allowance from Nu 5,000 to Nu 10,000 and the allowance for dholam from Nu 500 to Nu 2,000. The high altitude allowance for civil servants working from 10,000 feet to 12,000 feet has been increased by 100 percent from Nu 1,000 to Nu 2,000 while for those working above 12,000 feet it has been increased from Nu 2,000 to Nu 3,000.
A new professional allowance has been introduced to retain technical people like airworthiness officers and flight operation officers with a minimum of Nu 4,091 to Nu a maximum of Nu 10,847 depending on one’s grade and seniority.
For medical staff the nurses uniform allowance has been revised by 50 percent from Nu 3,000 to Nu 4,500 while the radiation allowance for radiation staff has been increased from Nu 300 to Nu 1,500.
Internal auditors have reason to smile as they would get an additional 20 percent professional allowance like their counterparts in RAA.
The scarcity allowance for Mathematics and Physics teachers has been withdrawn while the officiating allowance has also been withdrawn.
For diplomats leave travel passage and carriage of personal effect allowances will be given as lump sum amounts. Also a lump sum amount will be given for furniture.
In case of the early retirement scheme the compensation has been increased from 15 months to 18 months salary.
