Gurgaon, November 9
In yet another instance of the state government’s apathetic attitude towards its employees, the house rent allowance (HRA) of the Haryana government officials serving in different departments within the municipal limits of Gurgaon has been cut from 20 per cent to 10 per cent.

Enforcing the aforesaid cut, the authorities concerned conveniently ignored the high rents being paid by the employees residing in Gurgaon.

They also overlooked the fact that the central government employees based in Gurgaon are getting 30 per cent HRA. The reason behind the move cited by the state authorities is also questionable.

The state government maintains that its employees posted in Gurgaon cannot be given 20 per cent HRA as the population of the city was less than 5 lakh as per the 2001 census.

However, while the HRA of the state government employees serving in Gurgaon had been increased to 20 per cent with effect from January 1, 2009, the city population taken into account pertains to the 2001 census.

As per the new government circular, the HRA of the Gurgaon employees was reduced from 20 per cent to 10 per cent.

The resentful employees point out that Gurgaon already has a municipal corporation, which is set up only in those cities which have a population of more than 10 lakh. “Still, for the reasons best known to the state authorities, different yardsticks are being used to ascertain the population of the same city for different matters,” says Amar Singh Yadav, general secretary of the Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh.

To register their protest against the discrepancy, the employees of different state government departments and owing allegiance to different associations staged a token dharna in front of the mini-secretariat here today.

They also submitted a memorandum to the local Deputy Commissioner to get the discrepancy removed.