JOIN USCentral staff to get more allowance in 29 cities
The Cabinet on Saturday approved upgrade of 29 cities and towns on the basis of the 2011 Census for providing higher house and transportation allowance to Central government employees.
“The Cabinet has approved reclassification/upgrade of certain cities/towns on the basis of Census 2011 for granting House Rent Allowance (HRA) and Transport Allowance to Central government employees,” Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.
With this, employees working in these 29 cities and towns will get higher HRA and transport allowance effective from April 1, 2014. This will cost the exchequer approximately Rs 128 crore for 2014-15.
On the basis of the 2011 Census, Pune and Ahmedabad have been upgraded to “X” category from “Y”. A total 21 cities, which have been upgraded to “Y” from “Z”, are Nellore, Gurgaon, Bokaro Steel City, Kalaburagi, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kannur, Kollam, Ujjain, Vasai-Virar City, Malegaon, Nanded-Waghala, Sangli, Rourkela, Ajmer, Erode, Noida, Firozabad, Jhansi, Siliguri and Durgapur.
Besides, Patna, Kochi, Indore, Coimbatore and Ghaziabad have been advanced to “Specified Higher Class” from “Other Places” for transport allowance, the statement said.
The classification is revised on the basis of population as reflected in the census report. So far, the 2001 census has been used for deciding the HRA and transport allowances of Central government officials posted in these towns and cities.
The criterion of population for this purpose has been followed as recommended by the Central Pay Commissions.
The existing qualifying threshold of population for HRA classification is 50 lakh and above for X, 5-50 lakh for Y and below 5 lakh for Z class cities. Transportation allowance is payable at “higher rates” in 13 specified cities classified earlier as “A-1” and “A” (those with a population of 20 lakh and above) and “lower rates” for the rest. The cities and towns are classified as X, Y and Z for the purpose of HRA and 13 specified cities are classified as A-1, A and Other Places for transport allowance.