The National Pay and Service Commission (NPSC) submitted its report recommending a new salary structure for government employees.

The commission's chief Mohammad Farashuddin submitted the report to Finance Minister AMA Muhith at his office on Sunday morning.

It has recommended Tk 80,000 as highest basic pay and Tk 8,200 as the lowest.

The new pay scale will be effective from July 1, 2015, said the minister.

According to the proposed pay strcuture, Tk5,500 crore of the total expenditure goes to the salaries and allowances first and second-class employees belong to a total of 10 grades.

For the top grade, that is for senior secretaries, the NPSC proposes a hike from the existing Tk40,000 to Tk80,000. This is a 100% increment and is one of the highest proposed by this commission.

At present, there are more than 800,000 government staff and around 500,000 pensioners in the country. Of those on active duty, around 600,000 are third and fourth-class employees.

The commission proposed hiking the lowest grade by around 71% from Tk4,800 to Tk8,200;

Currently, the Bangladesh government pays out around Tk38,000 crore in salaries and allowances to its employees belonging to 20 grades. The commission proposes to slash the number of pay grades to 16.

The commission also recommends health insurance cards for government servants, increasing mobile phone allowances, additional allowances for employees working in Dhaka and outside, and enabling an accomodation scheme so that employees can contribute in groups to purchase flats.

The proposals were worked out on the basis of the estimated expenses of a six-member family, with education and health fees for two children.

The last Pay Commission was formed in 2007 during the caretaker regime, and the last time public servants got a hike was on Jul 1, 2009, with Tk 40,000 as highest basic pay and Tk 4,100 as the lowest.

TF/QH