7th Pay Commission: Expert committee formed to look into salary revision of govt employees

The Tripura government will form an expert committee regarding implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations for the state government employees, the new Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said today. This decision was taken at the first meeting of the council of ministers held in Agartala during the day, Deb, who took oath as the chief minister in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, told a press conference.

Deb said he would not elaborate more on the issue since the Model Code of Conduct is on as polling is scheduled to be held on March 12 at the Charilam constituency. Election to the constituency was countermanded due to the death of CPI(M) candidate Ramendra Narayan Debbarma, a week before the Feb 18 elections in the state.

The BJP had promised in its manifesto that the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission would be implemented during the first meeting of the cabinet if the BJP and its ally the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) were voted to power. The chief minister said the meeting also decided to recommend CBI investigation into the killings of two journalists Shantanu Bhowmick and Sudip Datta Bhowmick, as promised in the manifesto.

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Shantanu was killed by a group of unidentified miscreants when he had gone to Mandai to cover an IPFT programme on September 20 last year and Sudip was shot dead inside the headquarters of Tripura State Rifles (TSR), 2nd battalion, on November 21 last year, when he had gone there to meet the commandant. The states new chief minister also said the Agartala airport would be named after the last tribal king Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur, which was also one of their poll pledges.