Govt employees residing in Berhampur demand hike in house rent allowance

The state government employees residing within the Berhampur Municipal Corporation limits have demanded a 20 per cent house rent allowance. “We want the house rent allowance for the state government employees residing within Berhampur Municipal Corporation limits to be increased to 20 per cent from the present 10 per cent,” said Sanjay Mallick, Odisha State Government Employees’ Coordination Committee (OSECC) Ganjam district unit secretary. OSECC is the joint committee of 47 government employees’ union.

The state government employees working in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack Municipal Corporations have been getting 20 per cent house rent allowance since both the municipalities were declared corporations, said Mallick. “But their counterparts in Berhampur Municipal Corporation area are deprived of enhanced house rent allowance,” he said. Sanjiv Mohan Palo, an engineer and a surveyor in Berhampur said that the private house rent in Berhampur had gone up by 25 to 30 per cent during past five years. “The increased labour cost to maintain houses, revised electricity tariff and inflow of more and more college students as prospective tenants is the reason of escalated house rent here,” said Palo.

The number of state government employees working in the city is about 5,000 and the number of residential quarters is about 1,000. “How the state government employees can manage to pay hefty house rent with their limited salaries?” said an employee.

Source: The Telegraph