Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, in an early gift for Diwali, announced advanced salary and pension for the state government employees.

According to the directive given by CM Patel to the Finance Department, advance payment of salary and pension of this month will be made during October 23-25.

The salary and pension for October 2024 will now be paid in advance, in response to representations made by various employee bodies, associations, and leaders to the CM.

Earlier this month, Gujarat announced the benefit of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) to state government employees who were recruited before 2005.

A total of 60,254 state employees will benefit from this inclusion in the OPS.

Despite a previous clause stating that government employees joining service on or after April 1, 2005, would not be eligible for certain benefits, the decision made it possible for those who were appointed and subsequently confirmed in their positions to avail the OPS benefits.

Additionally, these employees are slated to receive a higher transfer allowance as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.

Last year, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the state government had announced a 4% rise in the dearness allowance (DA) for its employees, with effect from July 2023.

The state government had provided benefits to a total of 4.45 lakh employees and 4.63 lakh pensioners in government and panchayat services.