To mark Haryana Day, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday announced raising the monthly minimum wage of skilled and unskilled labourers, and said salaries of state government employees may also be hiked soon.
The wage for unskilled labourers has been raised from Rs.5,900 to Rs.7,600 per month and that of skilled labourers from Rs.6,536 to Rs.9,699, Khattar announced at an event in Yamunanagar town, 100 km from here.
The chief minister announced that the social welfare department would set up its centres at the block and sub-divisional levels so that people do not have to visit the district headquarters to get themselves enrolled for various social security pension schemes.
Khattar announced that a new scheme of social audit would be implemented at the village level to ensure transparency in development works and keep a check on corruption.
"The Haryana government is committed to the welfare of government employees and their salaries could also be increased," Khattar said.
"During the previous government, the beneficiaries of various social security pensions did not get their pension on time. During an audit in Karnal alone, a scam of Rs.5 crore in the distribution of old age allowance was unearthed.
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"To streamline the pension distribution system, we have decided to disburse the social security pensions through banks and post offices," he said.
Khattar said a survey has been conducted in which about two lakh pension accounts in the state have been found to be fake.
This would save Rs.24 crore for the government at the rate of Rs.1,200 per month, he said.
Haryana was founded on November 1, 1966, after being carved out from Punjab.