Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Sadou Asom Sanmilita Sikshak Mancha (SASSM), a conglomerate of 12 teachers’ organizations of the state, has welcomed the State Government’s decision to extend retirement gratuity and death gratuity (RGDG) to the teachers and employees whose services were provincialized as per the Assam Venture Educational Institutions (Provincialization of Services) Act, 2011 w.e.f. January 1, 2013 and appointed on a regular basis on or after 2005. The teachers’ body termed these gratuities to be the prized gifts to the retiring teachers and employees.
In a statement issued to the media, SASSM president Ranjit Barthakur said, “As of September 2017, there was no minimum or maximum monetary limit for the gratuity paid to retiring government servants in Assam. The gratuity amount is calculated as half a month’s basic pay for each completed six-month period of qualifying service. However, the Assam Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was introduced in the Assam Legislative Assembly on September 11, 2023, and provides that gratuity is payable at the rate of 15 days’ wages for every completed year of service. To be eligible for gratuity, an employee has to complete at least five years of service. Under this condition, an employee can get a sizable amount at the time of retirement. We appeal to the state government to bring the teachers and employees working against regular posts under the pension head and abolish the NPS. Such a move will place Assam as a welfare state in the country. We also appeal to the Chief Minister to bring the teachers and employees working for a long time but could not complete five years after their delayed provincialization under the gratuity fold with a humanitarian approach.”
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