The Government of Uttar Pradesh has decided to give its employees a Diwali bonus equal to 30 days’ wages, which will cost the treasury Rs 1,022 crore. The bonus limit will be Rs 6,908 per employee. It has been decided that 25 per cent of the bonus will be paid in cash and 75 per cent will go as contribution to their provident fund account.
For daily wagers, the bonus will be calculated based on the maximum monthly wages of Rs 1,200. The staff members who do not have a provident fund (PF) account will receive National Security certificates for the amount instead. The announcement brings festive cheer to almost 15 lakh employees.
All state-government employees, including class III and IV staff are eligible for the benefit. All teachers of government schools and government-aided educational institutions, staff of local bodies, district panchayats and daily wagers working for the state government will also benefit from this bonus.
In October, the Uttar Pradesh government had started mulling over a festival bonus on the lines of the scheme announced by the Centre for the central government employees. The bonus shelled out last year, to about 14 lakh employees had cost the ex-chequer about Rs 900 crore. Again, a part of the benefit was paid in cash, while the rest went as contribution to the PF accounts.
