Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday announced various service-related benefits for teaching and non-teaching employees working in various non-government-aided higher educational institutions in the state.
The teaching and non-teaching employees working under the block grant system will get 15 days of annual leave while the female employees will get 180 days maternity leave for two births in addition to the annual leave, Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said in a statement.
The above benefit will also be extended to the employees of new aided high schools, Sanskrit Tols, UP (ME) schools and madrasas.
As per the announcement, 16 years after receiving the block grants, the aided teachers will get placement scale at the higher pay scale.
Similarly, the chief minister has also increased the ex-gratia amount given to the block grant employees in case of death or permanent disability during the service period, it said.
The compensation amount for in-service death has been enhanced from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh while the ex-gratia money for disability has been hiked to Rs 3.50 lakh from Rs 1.50 lakh.
The government has announced these benefits a day after the state cabinet has also decided to provide a lump sum amount of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh at the time of retirement (60 years), to teaching and non-teaching staff, respectively.
The cabinet had also decided to provide a one-time retirement benefit of Rs 6 lakh for teaching staff and Rs 4 lakh for non-teaching staff of the new aided high schools and new aided Sanskrit Tols and Rs 5 lakh for teachers of new aided UP (ME) schools and new aided madrasas.
However, the employees of the above institutes expressed their unhappiness over the decision and staged protests, resulting in the government coming up with some additional benefits. About 17,500 employees who are receiving block grants and about 33,420 employees (teaching and non-teaching) staff working in 2,560 high schools, 940 high primary schools, 39 Sanskrit tols and 138 madrasas in the state would also be benefitted from the move.
